
11 January 2021
The 2015 Passchendaele Commemoration Remembers "Dai" Westacott.
At a moving commemoration
held on the evening of the 10th November each year, the
villagers of Passchendaele honour the memory of the men of all
nationalities who died during the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July -
10 November 1917), perhaps better known as "Passchendaele". Over
half a million men became casualties in the battle but in order to
personalise this horrendous human cost, the Passchendaele
Commemoration focuses on the lives of just three soldiers who died.
This year, one of the three was a rugby international. At least
seven internationals died in the battle, including: James Henderson
(Scotland), Albert Stewart (Ireland), Alfred Taylor (Ireland),
Arthur Wilson (England) and two of the most famous rugby players to
fall in the war, Edgar Mobbs (England) and David Gallaher (New
Zealand). But it was the less well-known Welsh international, David
Westacott, who was honoured at the 2015 commemoration.
This annual ceremony by the people of Passchendaele commemorates
the end of the Third Battle of Ypres and the capture of their
village by the Canadian Division on the 10th November 1917. This
year over three hundred villagers took part, as well as government
representatives from Belgium, Canada, New Zealand and Germany.
Contingents of the Belgian, Canadian and German military were also
present. The commemoration began just outside the village at the
Crest Farm Canadian Memorial, with a reflection on the sacrifice of
Myer Cohen of Canada, Hinrich Böttcher of Germany and, representing
all the British soldiers who died, David Westacott. During a moving
ceremony, an account of the life of each was read out and their
photographs displayed at the memorial. This was then followed by a
torchlit procession through the village to Passchendaele Church.
"Dai" Westacott was a Cardiff docker. A tough and powerful forward,
he played for seven seasons for Cardiff during one of the most
successful periods in their history. The highlight of his club
career was surely his participation in Cardiff's stunning 24-8
victory over Australia in 1908. He also played once for Wales in
the match against Ireland in 1906. Although a thirty-two year-old
family man when war broke out, Dai was an early volunteer and
consequently he saw much action on the Western Front. On the
28th August 1917, he was serving with the
2/6th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment in the line
north-east of Ypres, when he was caught by a random shell and
killed instantly. He has no known grave and is commemorated, not
far from where he died, on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing.
Dai is perhaps not the best known of the many internationals who
died in the war, but it is gratifying to realise that his
achievements and his sacrifice have been not been forgotten by the
people of Passchendaele and Flanders. A fuller account of David
Westacott's life and rugby career will be posted here on the
centenary
of his death. About the Author - Gwyn
Prescott is a Cardiff based rugby historian and writer. His latest
book 'Call Them to Remembrance': The Welsh Rugby Internationals who
Died in the Great War is available through publishers
and from
Amazon.
Follow the World Rugby Museum on
Facebookand
Twitter