John Fyfe Thomson (1915 – 30 July 1944) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

, mainly as a

left half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He became an increasingly important member of the ''Accies'' team during the 1930s during which they consistently finished in the top half of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

's top division, although an injury kept him out of the team for the club's most significant achievement of the era, the run to the 1935 Scottish Cup Final.Thomson, John (1933)
Hamilton Academical Memory Bank Thomson joined the

Gordon Highlanders Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, playing in wartime competitions for Hamilton,

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

and

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

. He was killed in action in France during the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

while serving with the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, part of the

15th (Scottish) Infantry Division The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that served during the Second World War. It was raised on 2 September 1939, the day before war was declared, as part of the Territorial Army (TA) and served in ...

, in 1944, aged 28. He is buried at Hottot-les-Bagues War Cemetery and commemorated in a small plaque at the

New Douglas Park New Douglas Park, currently known as the ZLX Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, which serves as the home of Scottish Championship side Hamilton Academical and Scottish League One sid ...

stadium, along with

Jimmy Morgan William James Morgan (19 June 1922 – 11 October 1976) was a professional footballer who played in The Football League for Bristol Rovers immediately after the Second World War. Jimmy was a member of the Barton Hill Morgan footballing family ...

, a teammate who also died in the conflict (coincidentally, a day later in an unrelated incident).James Morgan and John Fyfe Thomson
The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project, April 2017

References

1915 births 1944 deaths Footballers from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Men's association football wing halves Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Blantyre Victoria F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Ayr United F.C. wartime guest players Albion Rovers F.C. wartime guest players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players Gordon Highlanders soldiers British Army personnel killed in World War II Burials at Hottot-les-Bagues War Cemetery Military personnel from South Lanarkshire {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1910s-stub

See also

References