List of footballers killed during World War II

Many former professional and top-level footballers lost their lives during World War II. These include:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

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]
• Hiley Bamsey – played for Exeter City (1935–1938). A sergeant in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, he was killed in Iraq on 31 December 1943.[3]
• Arthur Baxter – played for Barnsley (1938–1939). Died serving with the Gordon Highlanders in Italy on 5 September 1944.[4]
• Billy Bryan – played for Swindon Town (1936–1938). Died during the Battle of Normandy on 2 August 1944 serving as a private in the Dorsetshire Regiment.[5]
• George Bullock – played for Barnsley (1936–1940). Died in a road accident serving in the Fleet Air Arm on 31 May 1943.[6]
• Alec Campbell – played for Southampton (1919–1926). Died of illness serving as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 16 June 1943.[7]
• Joe Carr – played for Sheffield United (1937–1940). Killed during the Battle of Dunkirk serving with the Royal Artillery on 31 May 1940.[8]
• 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.[9]
• William Chalmers – played for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic (1932–1938). Died accidentally serving as a gunner in the Royal Artillery on 7 October 1943.[10]
• Charlie Clark – played for Queens Park Rangers (1935–1938). Clark died of wounds during the Tunisian campaign on 1 March 1943.[11]
• Albert Clarke – played for Blackburn Rovers (1938–1944). Killed in France in 1944 serving with the Devonshire Regiment.[12]
• 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.[13]
• Joe Coen – played for Luton Town (1934–1939). Died on 15 October 1941, in a training accident while serving with the Royal Air Force.[14]
• 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.[15]
• 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.[16]
• 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.[14][17]
• Ernie Davies – played for Tranmere Rovers (1936–1940). Died in North Africa serving with the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) on 17 August 1942.[18]
• Bill Dean – played for Arsenal (1940–1941). Killed in the sinking of his ship in 1942.[19]
• Stanley Docking – played for Newcastle United (1934–1938). Died accidentally whilst serving as an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 27 May 1940.[20]
• Stan Duff – played for Tranmere Rovers (1937–1938). Died in a training accident while serving with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 9 September 1941.[21]
• Tom Farrage – played for Birmingham (1937–1944). Killed during the Battle of Arnhem on 23 September 1944.[22]
• David Fenner – played for Airdrieonians (1938–1939) in the Scottish League. Killed on 25 February 1945 when his bomber crashed in the Netherlands.[23]
• Fred Fisher – played for Millwall (1938–1944). Killed when his bomber was shot down by a night fighter over France on 26 July 1944.[24]
• Alan Fowler – played for Swindon Town. Killed in action with the Dorsetshire Regiment shortly after D-day on 10 July 1944.[14]
• Hugh Glass – played for Arsenal (1938–1939). A Merchant Navy seaman, he was killed when his ship was torpedoed on 26 November 1942.[25]
• Robert Gordon – played for Huddersfield Town (1937–1939). Died in 1940 of pulmonary tuberculosis while serving in the Royal Air Force.[26]
• Harry Goslin – played for Bolton Wanderers (1930–1939). Served with the Bolton Artillery, mortally wounded in action in Italy and died 18 December 1943.[14]
• George Groves – played for Sheffield United (1891–1896). A civilian during the war, Groves was killed during the Blitz on 18 February 1941.[27]
• Sid Gueran – played for Southampton (1936–1938). He was killed in action 18 September 1944 in the Battle of Arnhem.[28]
• Ernest Hall – played for Newcastle United (1935–1936) and Brighton & Hove Albion (1937–1938). Killed serving as a Vickers Wellington bomber pilot on 7 July 1944.[29]
• Harry Hampson – played for Southport (1936–1938) and Sheffield United (1938–1940). Died of septicaemia serving with the Royal Armoured Corps as a corporal on 24 June 1942.[30]
• George Handley – played for Crystal Palace (1934–1935). Died during the invasion of Sicily while serving with the Staffordshire Regiment on 9 July 1943.[31]
• Dennis Higgins – played for Fulham. He was killed in action in North Africa on 25 September 1942 serving with the Durham Light Infantry.[32][33]
• 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.[34]
• Bill Imrie – a Scottish international, he played for Blackburn Rovers (1929–1934) and Newcastle United (1933–1938). Died of cancer whilst serving with the Coldstream Guards on 26 December 1944.[35]
• Bill Isaac – played for Brighton & Hove Albion (1939–1940). Died on 14 April 1941 serving as a bombardier with the Royal Artillery.[36]
• Alex Jackson – played for Huddersfield Town (1925–1930) and Chelsea (1930–1932). He survived the war, but was killed in a road incident in Egypt on 15 November 1946 while serving as a major in the Royal Pioneer Corps.[37]
• 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.[38]
• Alex Johnson – played for Norwich City (1938–1939). Killed in an aviation accident in Oman on 31 July 1944 whilst serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.[39]
• 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.[40]
• Alfred Keeling – played for Bradford (Park Avenue) (1937–1939). Shot down and killed over the Bay of Biscay on 1 December 1942.[41]
• 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.[14][17]
• Les Milner – played for York City (1937–1939). Killed serving with the Seaforth Highlanders near Bayeux on 25 June 1944.[42]
• Fred Mills – played for Port Vale and Leeds United. Killed by an explosive device at Blerick in 1944 while serving with the Royal Artillery.[43]
• Peter Monaghan – played for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic (1937–1940). Killed in the Netherlands on 21 January 1945 whilst serving as a private with the Highland Light Infantry.[44]
• Jimmy Morgan – played for Hamilton Academical (1932–1941) in the Scottish League. Killed in a flight accident serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 31 July 1944.[45]
• Jim Olney – played for Birmingham (1936–1938). Killed in Belgium in 1944 serving in the Coldstream Guards.[46]
• William Parr – played for Arsenal (1940). Died in an aircraft crash training with the RAF in 1942.[47]
• Alfred Penlington – played for Everton (1940–1941). Lost when his Vickers Wellington was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea.[48]
• Colin Perry – played for Nottingham Forest (1939–1940). Died at Tobruk in 1942 serving with Royal Army Service Corps.[49]
• Albert Powell – played for Swindon Town (1928–1929). Died on active service with the Royal Artillery on 23 October 1940.[50]
• Sidney Pugh – played for Arsenal (1938–1944). Killed in a flying accident training in the RAF in 1944.[51]
• Henry Race – played for Nottingham Forest (1933–1937). Killed in North Africa as a corporal with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders on 24 October 1942.[52]
• Hubert Redwood – played for Manchester United (1933–1940). Died in 1943 of tuberculosis while serving with the South Lancashire Regiment.[53]
• Frederick Riley – appeared in the 1936 Summer Olympics for Great Britain. Shot down and killed serving in the Royal Air Force on 7 December 1942.[54]
• Grenville Roberts – played for Nottingham Forest (1937–1939). Died of wounds serving with the West Yorkshire Regiment at Dunkirk on 3 June 1940.[55]
• Herbie Roberts – played for Arsenal (1926–1937). He died of erysipelas on 17 June 1944, while on active duty with the Royal Fusiliers.[14]
• 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.[56]
• Tom Robson – played for Everton (1929–1930) and Northampton Town (1934–1937). Died of a heart condition serving as a leading aircraftman in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 10 April 1942.[57]
• 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.[58]
• George Salvidge – played for Hull City (1938–1940). A lance-corporal in the York and Lancaster Regiment, Salvidge was killed in action near Tobruk on 23 November 1941.[59]
• 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.[60][61]
• George Scott – played for Aberdeen in the Scottish League. Killed in an air accident in 1942.[62]
• Wilf Shaw – played for Doncaster Rovers (1930–1944). Killed in Operation Veritable in 1945 serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.[63]
• Ralph Shields – played for Huddersfield Town (1914–1920). A member of the Second Australian Imperial Force, Shields was taken prisoner by the Japanese and died at the Sandakan POW camp on 21 November 1944.[64]
• Walter Sidebottom – played for Bolton Wanderers (1939–1941). Killed serving as an able seaman on board HMS Charybdis when the ship was sunk off France on 23 October 1943.[65]
• 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.[66]
• Allan Sliman – played for Bristol City (1932–1938). Died of wounds on air operations in 1945.[67]
• Walter Spratt – played for Brentford (1911–1921). A civilian during the war, he was killed by a V-2 flying bomb on 22 January 1945.[68]
• Eric Stephenson – played for Leeds United (1935–1941). Killed in British Burma in 1944 as an officer in British Indian Army.[69]
• Benny Thomson – played for Kilmarnock (1934–1939) in the Scottish League. A Merchant Navy seaman, he was killed when his ship was sunk by German aircraft on 12 November 1940.[70]
• John Thomson – played for Hamilton Academical (1932–1941) in the Scottish League. Died in Normandy serving as a private in the Seaforth Highlanders on 30 July 1944.[71]
• 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.[72]
• Ernie Tuckett – played for Arsenal (1932–1937). Killed in an aircraft accident in May 1945.[73]
• Edwin Watson – played for Huddersfield Town (1937–1938). Killed during an anti-submarine sweep in June 1944.[74]
• David Willacy – played for Preston North End (1938–1939). Killed in a training accident serving with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.[75]

Italy

• Luigi Barbesino – played for Casale (1912–1920) and the Italian national team (1912–1914). Killed aboard a reconnaissance aircraft when it crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on 20 April 1941.[76]
• Federico Ferrari Orsi – played for Torino (1907). A general in the Italian Army, he was killed by a landmine in Egypt before the Second Battle of El Alamein on 18 October 1942.[77]

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.[78]

Soviet Union

• Mikhail Yakovlev – appeared in the 1912 Summer Olympics for the Russian Empire. A civilian during the war, he died during the Siege of Leningrad in 1942.[79]

References

1. "Reginald Stephen Anderson". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
2. "Matthew Armstrong". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
3. "Casualty Details: Hiley Royal Bamsey". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
4. "Casualty Details: Arthur Baxter". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
5. "Casualty Details: William Bryan". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
6. "Casualty Details: George Frederick Bullock". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
7. "Casualty Details: Alastair Keyon Campbell". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
8. "Casualty Details: Joseph Carr". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
9. "Commonwealth War Graves casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
10. "Casualty Details: William Ritchie Chalmers". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
11. "Casualty Details: Clark, Charles". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
12. "Albert Clarke". cwgc.org. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
13. "David Johnston Robertson Clyne". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
14. "Hall of Fame - Second World War". Commonwealth Graves Commission.
15. "Tom Cooper: Defender (1934-1939)". liverpoolfc.tv. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
16. "Commonwealth War Graves casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
17. https://footballpink.net/2014/10/30/bobby-daniel-and-arsenals-other-doomed-youth/
18. "Casualty Details: Ernest Davies". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
19. "William Benjamin Dean". cwgc.org. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
20. "Casualty Details: Docking, Stanley Holbrook". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
21. "Casualty Details: Stanley Douglas Duff". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
22. "Thomas Oysten Farrage". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
23. "David Hendry Fenner". cwgc.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
24. "Casualty Details: Frederick William Fisher". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
25. "Casualty Details: Hugh Glass". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
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39. "Casualty Details: Alexander Johnson". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
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42. "Casualty Details: Leonard Milner". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
43. Venray War Cemetery at CWGC
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57. "Casualty Details: Thomas Robson". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
58. "Harry Salmon". Retrieved 26 May 2020.The CWGC records his name as Harry.
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60. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2536582/SAUNDERS,%20PERCY%20KITCHENER
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76. Luigi Barbesino at Olympedia
77. Lunardi, Tommaso (20 October 2018). "Eroi dimenticati: Federico Ferrari-Orsi, il generale fondatore del Torino". Il Primato Nazionale (in Italian). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
78. "Damals: Das letzte Spiel unterm Hakenkreuz". weltfussball.de. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
79. Mikhail Yakovlev at Olympedia

See also

• Association football during World War II