255227 Pte. James Alexander "Tufty" Simpson British Army 2nd Btn. Seaforth Highlanders from:Elgin, Morayshire (d.4th Jun 1940) James Simpson was born in 1914 in Elgin, Morayshire. He was the eldest of three boys to Alexander and Elsie Simpson.
James enlisted into the 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders aged 14yrs at Fort George and was a drummer boy. James re-enlisted in 1938 for a further 12 years and returned home immediately before the outbreak of war. James was still serving in the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders at that time.
On 18th of January 1940 the Battalion was at Aldershot and was inspected by King George V1.
On the 26th of January the 4th Battalion sailed for France and was moved into position in the Maginot Line in the Saar Valley, France. The German advance in May 1940 bypassed the Maginot Line and the 51st Highland Division fell back to a new position on the Somme at Abbeville.
It was stationed in front of the Ouvrage Hackenberg fortress of the Maginot Line and had thus escaped being encircled with the rest of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk. It was then pulled back to a new line roughly along the River Somme, where it was attached to the French Tenth Army.
For some time, it was forced to hold a line four times longer than that which would normally be expected of a division. The Division was attacked very heavily over 4th to 6thof June and it was on 4th June that James was reported missing in action believed killed during the attack on bridgeheads opposite Abbeville on the Somme.
James is remembered on the Elgin War Memorial
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