War Vet, Sports Historian Aitchison Dies

Tommy Aitchison, one of Bermuda’s last surviving Second World War veterans and perhaps the island’s premier cricket historian, has died at the age of 95.

Mr. Aitchison [pictured reminiscing at left with Bermudian sports great Austin Hughes] succumbed in Arizona on Tuesday [May 3] following a short illness. He had been living in the US for the last five years.

At the outbreak of World War Two in September, 1939, Mr. Aitchison volunteered for overseas service.

While travelling to the UK with his Bermuda Volunter Rifle Corp unit the following year,  Mr Aitchison had his first encounter with the enemy when German U-Boats on patrol in the Atlantic attempted to torpedo ships in his convoy.

He was first attached to the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment,  rising to the rank of sergeant, and later joined the Black Watch Regiment in 1942. He saw combat in both North Africa and Italy.

Mr. Aitchison was demobilised and returned to the island in 1946 and remained a stalwart of the Bermuda War Veterans Association for the next six decades.

Kaleidoscope Media editorial director Chris Gibbons, who worked closely with Mr. Aitchison on a number of projects over the years, has paid tribute to his frequent collaborator and longtime friend: “Although he was born in Mount Cisco, New York, to Scottish parents in 1915, Tommy’s name became synonymous with Bermudian sports about which he wrote for more than half a century, earning a reputation as the island’s foremost cricket historian and statistician.

“He first came to Bermuda as a seven-year old when his father was contracted to help build the original Bermudiana Hotel and made the island his permanent home.

“Tommy attended Saltus Grammar School and then high school in Scotland. He returned to Bermuda to become a salesman for Pearman Watlington & Co. before being called up to the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps at the outbreak of World War Two and volunteering for overseas service.

“He had started compiling cricket statistics before the war and after being demobbed, he became a sports reporter for the then daily ‘Mid-Ocean News’ and reported his first Cup Match in 1946.

“He later became sports editor and publisher of ‘Bermuda Sports’, a monthly magazine, as well as a partner in the Sportsmans Shop.

“In 1956, he left Bermuda for Colorado, Arizona and San Diego when doctors advised the drier climate would be more beneficial for the ailing health of his first wife, Joan.

“Joan would live another 18 years during which time Tommy studied accountancy and became a CPA. He met second wife Lois (nee Kempe) in 1975 and returned to Bermuda in 1976, working for Butterfield & Steinhoff until his retirement in 1980.

“He founded the ‘Bermuda Cricket Annual’ (later the ‘Shell Cricket Annual’) in 1980 and continued to compile the only publicly available statistics for cricket competitions such as Cup Match and the County Cups.

“In fact he painstakingly compiled these historically important statistics from scratch twice as his first set was thrown away by a careless custodian during Tommy’s absence from Bermuda.

“He was a founding member of the Bermuda Cricket Foundation, which was designed to provide ongoing funding for youth cricket but was never supported by the island’s cricket authorities. His Cup Match statistics are now in the Government Archives.

“He continued to contribute articles to local newspapers and magazines, including tributes and obituaries of the island’s war veterans, until almost the end of his life . His first love, though, remained sport.

“He once admitted: ‘I wasn’t much of a player but I fulfilled my enthusiasm by writing about it’.

“His most treasured memory was a remarkable personal correspondence he maintained with the legendary Australian batsman Sir Donald Bradman.

“While visiting Australia and New Zealand in 1985, he received a letter of introduction to Sir Donald from a mutual friend, Kenneth Sandford, a distinguished author and cricket administrator whom he had met when Sandford led a touring team to Bermuda.

“Sadly, Tommy became ill and never got to Adelaide, Bradman’s home city.

“However, on his return to Bermuda he wrote to him and so began a correspondence that continued for the last 15 years of Bradman’s life, even though the two never met.

“Since early 2005, Tommy and Lois had lived in San Diego, California and then, later, Snowflake, Arizona. She predeceased him in 2008. Tommy is survived by sons, Christopher and Bruce, and five grandchildren.”

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