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
Thiepval Memorial February 1917, and Bapaume was occupied by the British on 17 March 1917 (see Operations on the Ancre, January–March 1917). Seven Victoria Cross recipients are listed on the memorial, under their respective regiments. All British unless otherwise noted: Also commemorated are: The Thiepval Memorial also serves as an Anglo-French battle memorial to commemorate the joint nature of the 1916 offensive. In further recognition of this, a cemetery, Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, containing 300 British Commonwealth and 300 French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. Most of the soldiers buried here – 239 of the British Commonwealth and 253 of