William Frank Thompson

In memoriam

Date of birth on the 1939 Register is 23 Aug 1920 NOT 17 Aug 1920 as shown above. On 25 January 1944, along with three other commandos, Major Thompson was sent on a parachute landing mission to establish a link between the British staff and the Bulgarian partisans led by Slavcho Transki; he landed near Dobro Pole, Macedonia. The commandos carried a radio to keep in contact with the staff in Cairo, Egypt and Bari, Italy, but it broke down. On 23 May, Thompson took part in the clash at the village of Batuliya between the Bulgarian Gendarmerie and the Second Sofia Brigade of National Liberation of the partisans. He was wounded by the gendarmerie forces, captured and, after a defiant speech in Bulgarian at his show trial, was executed by firing squad in the nearby village of Litakovo. He is buried in Litakovo, Sofiya, Bulgaria in an unmarked grave, this record is a memorial in the Sofia Cemetery. Service No: 124039 Age: 23 Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery Son of Edward John and Theodosia Jessup Thompson, of Halifax, Yorkshire. Scholar of Winchester College and Scholar of New College, Oxford.

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