Quick Facts
ScorpioBiography
Thomas Joseph Simpson (November 6, 1921 – January 28, 2017) was one of only 114 Canadians to receive the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) for World War II service.
Service history
Simpson enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy at HMCS Hunter in Windsor, Ontario, as a radar operator during the Second World War in 1942. He trained as a radar operator in Esquimalt, British Columbia, and later Halifax, Nova Scotia, before serving on the corvette HMCS Shawinigan and frigates HMCS Toronto, and HMCS La Hulloise in the Battle of the Atlantic.He died on January 28, 2017.
Awards
On March 7, 1945, La Hulloise along with two other Canadian River-class frigates, Strathadam and Thetford Mines, sank the German submarine U-1302 (originally thought to be U-775) in the St George's Channel. In August the event was recognised by the awarding of medals to a number of the officers and men of the three frigates, Simpson included.
