List of footballers killed during World War II
 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (December 2010) |
 |
Many former professional and top-level footballers lost their lives during World War II. These include:
Great Britain
- Reg Anderson – played for Dulwich Hamlet (1934–1938 and 1939–1940) and Cardiff City (1938–1939). Died when his bomber was shot down by flak over the Heligoland Bight in 1942.[1]
- Matthew Armstrong – played for Darlington (1936–1939). Died during service with Royal Army Medical Corps in the Middle East in 1941.[2]
- Norman Catlin – played for Southampton (1935–1937). He lost his life in the controversial sinking of HMS Gloucester off the coast of Crete in May 1941.[3]
- Albert Clarke – played for Blackburn Rovers (1938–1944). Killed in France in 1944 serving with the Devonshire Regiment.[4]
- David Clyne – played for Queen's Park (1937–1939) in the Scottish League. Killed in a training accident whilst piloting a Catalina flying boat in 1944.[5]
- Joe Coen – played for Luton Town (1934–1939). Died on 15 October 1941, in a training accident while serving with the Royal Air Force.[6]
- Tom Cooper – played for Port Vale (1924–1926), Derby County (1926–1934) and Liverpool (1934–1940), as well as 15 appearances for England. Died serving the Royal Military Police in England on 25 June 1940 after his motorcycle struck a lorry.[7]
- Haydn Dackins – played for Swansea Town (1934–1935) and Port Vale (1935–1936). He was killed in action in Sicily on 2 August 1943, serving in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.[8]
- Bobby Daniel – played for Arsenal but never made a first-team appearance. Served in the RAF, disappeared in action on a bombing raid over Berlin on 23 December 1943.[6][9]
- Bill Dean – played for Arsenal (1940–1941). Killed in the sinking of his ship in 1942.[10]
- Tom Farrage – played for Birmingham (1937–1944). Killed during the Battle of Arnhem on 23 September 1944.[11]
- David Fenner – played for Airdrieonians (1938–1939) in the Scottish League. Killed on 25 February 1945 when his bomber crashed in the Netherlands.[12]
- Fred Fisher – played for Millwall (1938–1944). Killed when his bomber was shot down by a night fighter over France on 26 July 1944.[13]
- Alan Fowler – played for Swindon Town. Killed in action with the Dorsetshire Regiment shortly after D-day on 10 July 1944.[6]
- Hugh Glass – played for Arsenal (1938–1939). A Merchant Navy seaman, he was killed when his ship was torpedoed on 26 November 1942.[14]
- Robert Gordon – played for Huddersfield Town (1937–1939). Died in 1940 of pulmonary tuberculosis while serving in the Royal Air Force.[15]
- Harry Goslin – played for Bolton Wanderers (1930–1939). Served with the Bolton Artillery, mortally wounded in action in Italy and died 18 December 1943.[6]
- Sid Gueran – played for Southampton (1936–1938). He was killed in action 18 September 1944 in the Battle of Arnhem.[16]
- Dennis Higgins – played for Fulham. He was killed in action in North Africa on 25 September 1942 serving with the Durham Light Infantry.[17][18]
- Alex Highet – played for Queen's Park (1938) in the Scottish League. A Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve seaman, he was killed when his ship was mined in 1940.[19]
- Sam Jennings – played for several clubs, including Reading (1921–1924), Brighton & Hove Albion (1925–1928) and Port Vale (1929–1931), and was manager at Rochdale (1937–1938). Died while serving on 26 August 1944, at the age of 45.[20]
- George Jordan – played for Cowdenbeath (1938–1940) in the Scottish League. Killed during the Western Allied invasion of France in 1944 serving with the Black Watch.[21]
- Leslie Lack – played for Arsenal but never made a first-team appearance. Served in the RAF, killed by friendly fire while returning from a mission in his Spitfire in 1943.[6][9]
- Fred Mills – played for Port Vale and Leeds United. Killed by an explosive device at Blerick in 1944 while serving with the Royal Artillery.[22]
- Jim Olney – played for Birmingham (1936–1938). Killed in Belgium in 1944 serving in the Coldstream Guards.[23]
- William Parr – played for Arsenal (1940). Died in an aircraft crash training with the RAF in 1942.[citation needed]
- Alfred Penlington – played for Everton (1940–1941). Lost when his Vickers Wellington was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea.[24]
- Colin Perry – played for Nottingham Forest (1939–1940). Died at Tobruk in 1942 serving with Royal Army Service Corps.[25]
- Sidney Pugh – played for Arsenal (1938–1944). Killed in a flying accident training in the RAF in 1944.[26]
- Hubert Redwood – played for Manchester United (1933–1940). Died in 1943 of tuberculosis while serving with the South Lancashire Regiment.[citation needed]
- Herbie Roberts – played for Arsenal (1926–1937). He died of erysipelas on 17 June 1944, while on active duty with the Royal Fusiliers.[6]
- Eric Robinson – played for York City (1940–1941) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (1941–1942). Drowned during a training exercise on the River Derwent, Yorkshire while serving with the East Lancashire Regiment.[27]
- Henry Salmon – played for Stoke City (1932–33), Millwall (1933–34), Southport (1936–37) and before enlistment for Shrewsbury Town. Killed during the Battle for Caen serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1944.[28]
- Percy Saunders – played for Sunderland (1937–1939) and Brentford (1939). A member of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, he was killed when his ship was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean in March 1942.[29][30]
- George Scott – played for Aberdeen in the Scottish League. Killed in an air accident in 1942.[31]
- Wilf Shaw – played for Doncaster Rovers (1930–1944). Killed in Operation Veritable in 1945 serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.[32]
- Charlie Sillett – played for Southampton (1931–1938). He was killed in a U-boat attack on an allied convoy while serving with the Royal Navy in 1945.[33]
- Allan Sliman – played for Bristol City (1932–1938). Died of wounds on air operations in 1945.[34]
- Eric Stephenson – played for Leeds United (1935–1941). Killed in British Burma in 1944 as an officer in British Indian Army.[35]
- Jimmy Tompkins – played for Fulham (1934–1939). An officer in the Royal Fusiliers, he was killed during Normandy campaign in 1944 when attached to Hampshire Regiment.[36]
- Ernie Tuckett – played for Arsenal (1932–1937). Killed in an aircraft accident in May 1945.[37]
- Edwin Watson – played for Huddersfield Town (1937–1938). Killed during an anti-submarine sweep in June 1944.[38]
Germany
- August Klingler – German international footballer, scored three goals in Germany's final international during World War II in November 1942, killed on the Eastern Front 1944.[39]
References
- ^ "Reginald Stephen Anderson". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "Matthew Armstrong". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "Commonwealth War Graves casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- ^ "Albert Clarke". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "David Johnston Robertson Clyne". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "Hall of Fame - Second World War". Commonwealth Graves Commission.
- ^ "Tom Cooper: Defender (1934-1939)". liverpoolfc.tv. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
- ^ "Commonwealth War Graves casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
- ^ a b https://footballpink.net/2014/10/30/bobby-daniel-and-arsenals-other-doomed-youth/
- ^ "William Benjamin Dean". cwgc.org. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Thomas Oysten Farrage". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "David Hendry Fenner". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "Casualty Details: Frederick William Fisher". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Casualty Details: Hugh Glass". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Robert Henry Gordon". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "Commonwealth War Graves casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
- ^ Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 136. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
- ^ "Commonwealth War Graves casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
- ^ "Alexander Galt Highet". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 151. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
- ^ "George Jordan". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ Venray War Cemetery at CWGC
- ^ "James Fred Olney". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "Casualty Details: Alfred Penlington". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Colin Perry". cwgc.org. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Sidney Pugh". spartacus-educational.com. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Eric Robinson". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "Harry Salmon". Retrieved 26 May 2020.The CWGC records his name as Harry.
- ^ http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2536582/SAUNDERS,%20PERCY%20KITCHENER
- ^ Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920-2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 141. ISBN 978-0955294914.
- ^ "George Gardener Scott". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Wilfred Shaw". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "DS Corvus - crew list". warsailors.com. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
- ^ "Allan Melrose Sliman". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Eric Stephenson". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "James John Tompkins". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Ernie Tuckett". arsenal.com. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "No. 201 Squadron Sunderland: William Ruth". aircrewremembered.com. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Damals: Das letzte Spiel unterm Hakenkreuz". weltfussball.de. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.