We Will Remember Them We remember in particular those servicemen that had played for Queenâs Park Rangers at some stage in their career before losing their lives serving their Country. Last year I recorded the names of the following players:- Evelyn Lintott, Albert Bonass, Frank Cannon, Joseph Dines, Charles Clarke, Albert Edwards, H.J.Pennifer, John Tosswill and H.V.Thornton. After some further research, I noted that Dennis Signy mentions in his book, a âJ.Butler âas being a victim of the Great War. Furthermore, Gordon Macey refers to a player with that surname but no initial who made his debut against Arsenal on Boxing Day 1916 and went on to make seven War time appearances for the Râs. After last yearâs article, âKen Nethâ commented that H.J.Pennifer used his second name, John and H.V.Thorntonâs Christian names were in fact âHarry Vernonâ. Thanks to him for passing on those details. I have also come across some additional information for some of the following players:- Albert Edward Bonass was born in York on 1st January 1912 and also played for Dringhouses, York Wednesday, Darlington, York City, Hartlepool, Chesterfield and QPR was the last club he played for â He was killed just 8 weeks or so after VJ Day in 1945 whilst on a training flight in a Stirling bomber. Frank Cannon was a Solicitorâs Clerk in Hitchin after leaving school and went on to play for Hitchin Town. He was described as a âdashing player and good dribbler with a fine shotâ. He scored a hat trick for the Râs against West Ham in April 1908 and that performance eventually led him to sign for them. After the outbreak of the Great War he joined the Army and became a Sgt.Major in the Essex Regiment. He was killed on the Western Front on 15th February 1916 and buried at Potijze in Belgium. Joseph Dines was born in Kingâs Lynn on 12th April 1886. He won more than twenty amateur caps for England as a half back. He also played in all three matches in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm for the Great Britain team which won him a gold medal. He was one of three brothers to enlist but Joe only survived eleven days. He was cut down by machine gun fire on 27th September 1918. John Marks writes in his excellent âHeroes In Hoopsâ book that Dennis Higgins was an amateur defender who played thirty times for the Râs. His debut was against Reading in a Southern League match on 21st March 1913. He joined the Sportsmen Battalion and became a Captain. He was so badly injured at Ypres in Flanders that he never played again. WE WILL REMEMBER THEM http://www.indyrs.co.uk/?p=231#more-231
A Pause For Thought.......... Warning: this article is as much about history as it is about football. Remembrance Sunday is a time which mustn't be forgotten. By the time the First World War concluded, 885,138 British servicemen had lost their lives fighting. It is massively important that we never let their sacrifices slip from memory. Football should be a massive part of this. Millions of people watch, week in and week out and, as such, football has a responsibility to help remember those who have passed. This article pays tribute to just a small number of those who fought in the war, from the footballing community, who should also not be forgotten. Obviously it is difficult to track everyone who signed up from the footballing community. From the Chelsea side of the time, I could only find specific mention of one name: Vivian Woodward. Woodward joined Chelsea in 1909 and remained on Chelsea's books technically until 1915, though he signed up at the very start of the war. Unfortunately Woodward, who was also a very talented footballer on the National stage, with two Olympic Gold medals to his name, was hit in the leg by a hand grenade, ending his footballing career. Another England star of the time, Frank Buckley, who had played as a centre half for both Manchester sides, also signed up and was in the same battalion as Woodward. Frank had been a regular soldier previously and was given the rank of Major in the new 'Footballers Battalion'. Their battalion was involved in the Somme, where Thomas Brewer and Evelyn Lintott, at the time QPR players, were both killed. Buckley was hit with shrapnel, puncturing his lungs. Naturally, he was then taken from the front where he remarkably survived and returned in 1917 to the front. He was yet another who could not return to his previous life after the war. Newcastle United were also represented, with George Pyke fighting in the same battalion. He did survive and returned to his previous life after the war. The last individual I will mention was Walter Tull, a player who represented Rangers, Spurs and Northampton. He was again a member of the footballers battalion and was also there at the Somme. He suffered from Trench Fever, however, and had to be sent to recover. After his recovery, he became the first black combat officer in the British Army. In 1918, however, Tull was shot whilst leading his men across No Mans Land and despite the best efforts of those around him to drag him to safety, he died on the battlefield. And no article writing about football and the first world war could possibly forget the bravery of the members of the then Clapton, now Leyton, Orient team who joined up as a group of 41. 3 of the team were killed at the Somme - including Richard McFadden, who even before the war, had proven his bravery twice already - once saving a drowning boy, once rescuing a man from a burning building. And it should be mentioned that the Footballers battalion was made up of 600 men. 122 were footballers. The rest made up of fans who wanted to fight alongside their heroes and they of course deserve mention also. So there it is; a brief summary of football's contribution to the First World War. There are obviously going to be people I've missed and for that I apologise but finding information on the subject isn't easy. I would hope that none of us need convincing that Remembrance Day is important but I felt that it would be right to show the link between the war and our beautiful game. Lest we forget... http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=511177
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few... We will remember them...
One of the most moving things I have ever done is a tour of WW1 Belgian and northern French battlefields in the company of a mate who really knows his history and is great in communicating it. At 7 pm every night in Ypres at the Menin Gate (which has thousands of allied names carved into it - the dead who's bodies were never recovered/identified) a bugler from the local fire brigade plays the last post. This has happened every night since the end of WW1 except for during WW2 occupation. Every night there is a crowd of visitors and locals there to hear it. I defy anyone who has a sense of sacrifice not to have a tear in their eye and a lump in their throat as they listen and reflect. Never forget.
Another, more local, place worth visiting is the Imperial War Museum. Apart from the display of weapons etc are the side rooms which have many donated medal displays along with personal items from soldiers and letters they had written from the front. It makes you realise they were just normal everyday people thrown into such a horrible situation, 'lions led by donkeys' is one of the most used phrases of that time and still applies, they were just cannon-fodder to the Generals...
Whilst on the subject of remembrance, the one thing I can never get my head around is the notion of our guys being ordered to walk across no-man's land in their hundreds and thousands - against machine guns... And to continue doing so whilst watching your 'pals' getting cut to ribbons, the alternative being execution by your own officers. Every time I think about it, it really bothers me. Okay, with reference to the Somme, I can understand the first wave getting caught out when it transpired that the days of artillery bombardment hadn't reduced the enemy - BUT to continue with wave after wave throughout the first day (60,000 'Brit' casualties alone) and then for days, weeks and months thereafter cannot be seen as mere tactical incompetence. Total maddness and a massive war crime gets a bit closer to accurately describing it. With all that 'blue on blue' going on, it's hard to share a poppy with the establishment who caused the blood loss in the first place. Lest we forget indeed...
We're not wearing the poppy to share it with the establishment Brix....we're wearing it to pay tribute to and never forget the people who laid down their lives, in whatever circumstances, for their country and, in the case of the 2 great wars, to defeat evil!! It's not supposed to be political!!
I bailed out of history at school before we studied the World Wars so I have to admit the first time I became aware of quite how unbelievably obscene these orders were was through âBlackadder goes Forthâ. Iâm not sure quite what this says about either me or the education system in this country. In later years I have read more and more on WW1 in particular. As Brixton says, these really ought to be classified as war crimes. I have tried to envisage being in this position myself and, Iâm glad to say, I have failed completely. The bravery of these soldiers is beyond comparison as is the callousness of the orders. Col, I think Brixtonâs point with regard to the poppies is that the establishment, the modern day equivalent of the politicians and officers who gave these orders, have stolen our symbol of tribute in an attempt to cleanse them of these âcrimesâ. They should find their own symbol, not politicise ours.
Let's face it, in every war the Generals make mistakes and bury them... Brixton's point is very valid, a shocking waste of life for what? I've put a clip from Blackadder 4 on here, one of the funniest series I've seen on TV, but in this clip, the final minutes of the last episode the reality of what happened to thousands of our young men is brought home and you can't fail to be choked watching the carnage of the battlefield transpose to the field of poppies it is today... [video=youtube;IglUmgYGxLM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IglUmgYGxLM[/video]
Just saying that I wear the poppy to honour the fallen....end of!! The argument about the generals using men as cannon fodder etc, whilst valid, are a separate issue! A lot of the loss of life was totally necessary in order to defeat the Hitlers of history.
I think the point is that you and I should wear poppies, the modern day equivalent of the idiots who gave the orders should get their own tribute. If my post came across as a criticism of you I could not apologise more Col.
You haven't misrepresented my point at all Roller. What's the point of remembrance if we selectively forget the facts? Whilst we've blurred the boundaries to include remembrance of our losses in all wars since, the poppy grows wild in Flanders and north-western France, 'the western front' in WW1. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori? Troops have the right to expect senior management to value their lives in tactical considerations. The lessons learned from the American Civil War and from Gallipoli and the Somme in WW1, are that you don't win ground by throwing unlimited numbers of bodies at well defended positions. The proof that heavily defended positions can be overcome with brain as well as brawn comes on D-Day in WW2, where the attack was multi-dimensional and well able to neutralise 'sticking points' like Omaha from behind if necessary. That final scene in Blackadder sums the trench war up adeptly. All those unanswerable questions fading in the mist. The only one left standing the test of time: 'why?' For me and many others, it's now rhetorical and comes in the form of a poppy. Sorry Col, just doing what it says on the tin... remembering.
Yes, heroes, and the troops in the Great War were shockingly lead. While things have improved on that score, it still rattles me when I hear Ministry of Defence economies are resulting in greater risk to our soldiers because they are going under-equipped. And the f*cking bankers are awarding themselves ever larger bonuses...
