Lieutenant-Colonel Syd Thomson
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada
Royal Highlanders (The Black Watch)

I went to investigate and naturally, but stupidly, drew my revolver as I approached the vehicle with a couple of chaps. The stupid part being that the revolver marked me as an officer. Several shots were fired from the side of the road and I got one on the inside fleshy part of my right thigh which just missed providing me with the voice of a tenor. Fortunately the bullet went clear through … I could not drop my shorts for an examination, however by putting a hand up one leg I was reasonably satisfied that I was not to become a eunuch.

(S.W. Thomson, “Wounded in Sicily,” 109)

Born in Salmon Arm, British Columbia on 14 November 1914, Sydney Wilford Thomson was son of the town mayor and worked odd jobs during the Great Depression. Having joined the Rocky Mountain Rangers in the 1930s, he mobilized with the outbreak of war and went overseas with the Seaforth Highlanders as a lieutenant. He landed in Sicily as a company commander on 10 July 1943.

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