Harold Davis, Korean War veteran and Rangers star, 85

Harold Davis had a unique precursor to top-level professional football after spending two years in military hospital with gunshot wounds.

The ex-Rangers star, who has died aged 85, underwent a catalogue of operations after his body was “ripped apart” by bullets in the Korean War.

Despite being signed off from the army on medical grounds and given a pension, he fought back to go on and play for Rangers for eight years, winning four league titles, two League Cups and one Scottish Cup, as well as a runners-up medal in the 1961 European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Davis was born in Cupar in 1933, one of four children. The family moved to Perth as Davis’ parents began work in the pub trade but his father died aged 39 in 1947.

Davis declined the chance to follow suit and joined East Fife, where he played under Scot Symon, who would later manage him at Rangers.

Davis went into national service, which began in 1951, as he signed up for The Black Watch, and enlisted for the Korean War.

His injuries came about during trench warfare in May 1953 as he was shot twice as he raced between gun pits.

He was flown off the battlefield and spent about 10 days unconscious in a Japanese hospital before flying on to London, where he spent a year undergoing and recovering from surgery.

Davis returned to Perthshire for recuperation and rehabilitation at the Bridge of Earn Hospital, but his determination to fight back to full fitness was noticed by one of the physios, former Rangers player David Kinnear, who pushed his special patient hard and then recommended him to Symon at Ibrox.

Davis joined Rangers in 1956 and went on to make 261 appearances.

Davis would later have a coaching stint with Dundee after retiring from the game but he moved north to the Highlands in 1975 with his wife Vi and son Alan to run a hotel in the Wester Ross village of Gairloch, where he would remain after his retirement.

Harold Davis: successful career despite his Korean War injuries.