Saturday, 22 May 2021

Vimy Ridge. Delville Wood. Albert. Péronne. Leyton Orient Football Club Supporters’ Association’s Visit To The Somme, July 2011. “Lest We Forget”.



LEYTON ORIENT FOOTBALL CLUB
SUPPORTERS' ASSOCIATION'S VISIT TO THE SOMME,
JULY 2011.
The crates of Shells, shown in the video (above), are ploughed up every year by farmers on The Somme. Over a Century later, these Shells continue to explode and cause death every year.
Available on YouTube at

In July 2011, the Leyton Orient Football Club Supporters' Association  went to The Somme Battlefields, France.

They went there to pay their respects, and to lay wreaths of remembrance, to three Leyton Orient (at the time called “Clapton Orient”) Footballers who fell at The Battle of The Somme, whilst serving in The 17th Middlesex Battalion, in July 1916. The three Footballers, whose names feature on the Memorial mentioned in this Article, were:

Private William Jonas (killed in Delville Wood);

George Scott (who died of wounds in a German Military Hospital at Le Cateau);

Company Sergeant Major Richard McFadden (Military Medal), who was killed near Serre.


Clapton Orient's ace goal scorer, Company Sergeant Major Richard McFadden (Military Medal), who was killed, near Serre.


“They Took The Lead”.
The story of Clapton Orient's (now Leyton Orient) major contribution to
The Footballers Battalions in The Great War.
Author: Stephen Jenkins.
Available at
AMAZON

The Supporters' Association had raised funds for a Memorial to be erected to commemorate all The Fallen from The 17th Middlesex Regiment and The 23rd Middlesex Regiment (The Footballers Battalions) “Who Served their Game and their Country in The Great War”.

“I knew nothing of Professional Footballers 
when I took over this Battalion.
But I have learned to value them.
I would go anywhere with such men.
Their “esprit de corps” was amazing.
This feeling was mainly due to Football -
the link of fellowship which bound them together.
Football has a wonderful grip on these men
and on The Army generally”.

Colonel H. T. Fenwick.
Commanding Officer, 17th Middlesex Regiment 1915 - 1917.

THE FOOTBALLERS BATTALIONS.

There is an Article on “The Footballers Battalions” on Wikipedia.
It can be read HERE

The Story of Clapton Orient in The First World War can be read at


The Memorial commemorating “The Footballers’ Battalion”,
Delville Woods, The Somme, France.
Illustration: PINTEREST
at

1 comment:

  1. Dante PeregrinusSaturday, 22 May, 2021

    The enormous cost of life in all wars but especially World War I, specifically the battles at the Somme and at Verdun, is still horrifying a century later. It cost the lives of so many young men; but also the lives of brilliant young artists, as Zephyrinus knows, such as Edwardian composer George Butterworth (“A Shropshire Lad”, musical sketch), Scot composer Cecil Coles, on the French side, young virtuoso composer/organist Rene Vierne (relative of Louis Vierne), American poet Joyce Kilmer, many other visual artists especially in France, and many say the massive loss of life at Verdun witnessed by composer/organist Max Reger on the German side so depressed him he died (like S. Pius X) of a broken heart within a few weeks.

    Remember the dead!

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