John Taliaferro Thompson was born 31 Dec 1860 in Newport, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of James Thompson and Julia Taliaferro. He passed away on Jun 21, 1940.
U.S. Army Brigadier General, Inventor of the Thompson Submachine Gun.
General John Taliaferro Thompson holding the Thompson Sub Machine Gun M1921 |
He married Juliet Estelle Hagans
He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1882, 11th in his class. Thompson became a 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to the 2nd U.S. Artillery.
He served at various posts until he was assigned to the Army Ordnance Department in 1890. During the Spanish-American War, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as Chief Ordnance Officer.
Thompson became a small arms specialist and was instrumental in developing the .45 caliber rimless cartridge for use with automatic weapons and eventually for use with the Colt Model 1911 .45 Automatic handgun. After years of failing to persuade the Army to adopt automatic weapons, he resigned in 1914 and accepted a position as a director with the Remington Arms Corporation.
Remington built a factory to support the European War Effort and produced rifles for the British and Russian Armies. When the United States entered World War I, Thompson was recalled to active duty and was commissioned as a Brigadier General. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service as Director of Arsenals.
After the war, he retired from the Army and concentrated on developing a practical automatic rifle. He invented the Thompson Submachine Gun, using .45 caliber ammunition, and sold the weapon in large quantities to law enforcement agencies after proving its effectiveness. The weapon popularly became known as the "Tommy Gun" and earned notoriety for its use by gangsters in the 1920s. His invention was later adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and was put to great use during World War II.
Thompson died at his residence in Newport in 1940 when he was 79 years old. He died 21 Jun 1940 in Great Neck, New York, United States and was buried in United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, Orange County, New York, USA, Plot: Section 13, Row A, Grave 38, GPS (lat/lon): 41.39945, -73.96772 .[1]
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