Billy Geen killed in this engagement, in which officers and men showed themselves worthy of the best traditions of their Regiment." Billy Geen is commemorated on panels 51 and 53 of the Menin Gate in Ypres, the memorial to missing soldiers from the battles of the Ypres Salient. Billy Geen William Purdon Geen (14 March 1891 – 31 July 1915) was a rugby union wing and centre, who represented Wales, and played club rugby for Oxford University and Newport and county rugby for Monmouthshire. He was also invited to play for the Barbarians on several occasions. Geen unsuccessfully trialled for England in
Ypres Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery. The Menin Gate records only soldiers for whom there is no known grave. As graves are identified, the names of those buried in them are removed from the Gate. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927. It was built and is maintained by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The memorial's location is especially poignant, as it lies on the eastward route from the town, which Entente soldiers would have taken towards the fighting – many never to return.