In 1939 he joined the Black Watch but was able to finish his studies at Glagow University, graduating with a degree in economics in 1940.
He was commissioned in the Fiji Military Forces and saw action in the Solomon Islands campaign.
He was appointed a military MBE "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the South West Pacific" in 1945.
[2] In 1967 he reluctantly left Fiji to become Governor of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
[5] In 1945 Thomson married Nancy Kearsley, a fourth-generation Fiji islander from a European family.