Legacy of Champions: The Olympians who fought and fell in the World Wars

To mark the 2024 Olympics, we look at some of the stars of track and field who served and fell in the World Wars.

Olympians & The World Wars

Athletes across the Commonwealth served in the armed forces in both World Wars.

Often young men in their prime, these competitors were no strangers to hard work, discipline, and physical exercise. Like footballers, these attributes greatly contributed to their skill sets as soldiers and servicemen.

How many Olympians were killed in the World Wars?

Image: Rifleman Toon, left, finished behind an American runner at an Inter-Allied athletics event (© IWM)

The World Wars were indiscriminate when it came to slaughter. Despite their track and field powers, the Olympians couldn’t escape bullets, artillery, and disease.

Over 400 Olympic competitors were killed in both World Wars across all belligerents. Commonwealth War Graves currently commemorates around 8- former Olympians.

There is no single Commonwealth War Graves Commission site dedicated to fallen sportsmen. Rather, these men are buried alongside their comrades in war cemeteries on the World War’s former battlefields. 

Those with no known grave are commemorated by name on the various CWGC memorials to the missing, such as Thiepval.

Stories of fallen Olympians

Read on to discover the stories of those who competed at the very top of their chosen sports but sadly lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars.

Private Alexander Decoteau

Image: Private Alexander Decoteau (Public Domain)

First Nations runner Alexander Decoteau’s athletics career took off following a move from his native Battleford, Saskatchewan to Alberta in 1909.

While working as a blacksmith, Alexander competed in national and provincial events. On Dominion Day 1910, he won four middle-stance and distance races at the Canadian Provincial Championships.

Alexander joined the Edmonton Police Force in 1911. As a Cree man, Alexander was the first First Nation police officer in Edmonton.

Alexander’s form was such that he was selected to represent Canada at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics. He competed in the 5,000 metres, finishing second in the first heat. Severe leg cramps impacted his second heat, leaving him with an overall sixth-place finish.

After the Olympics, Alexander turned pro. He also became Edmonton’s first motorcycle police officer in 1914.

Alexander joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1916, at first assigned to the 202nd Infantry Battalion before transferring to the 49th Battalion.

While serving in the armed forces, Alexander continued to run competitively. He participated in at least two military athletic competitions. King George V awarded Alexander his gold pocket for winning the eight-kilometre (five mile) event at a meeting in Salisbury.

On May 27, 1917, Alexander was sent to France along with further reinforcements for the 49th Battalion. On the Western Front, Alexander’s athleticism was put to use as a trench runner.

Alexander was killed by a sniper’s bullet at the Battle of Passchendaele. He is buried in Passchendaele New British Cemetery.

Captain Evelyn Herbert Lightfoot Southwell

Image: Captain Herbert Southwell (public domain)

Captain Evelyn Herbert Southwell, known as Herbert, lost his life on 15 September 1916 during the titanic Battle of the Somme. 

On the same day, Richard Stanhope was killed. Together, Herbert and Richard were reserves for the Magdalen College coxless fours that won gold at the 1908 Olympics.

Herbert was the son of the Reverand Herbert Burrows Southwell, Canon of Winchester Cathedral. Burrows senior had been a competitive rower himself, winning three Blues at Oxford and winning the 1880 Henley Grand Challenge.

Herbert was educated at Yarlet Hall before going on to Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. He began rowing at Eton and served with the Eton College Rifle Volunteers.

At Oxford, Herbert’s rowing skills developed. He was stroke to the winning Head of the River for the Magdalen eight in 1905 and 1906. Herbert also won the University Fours in 1905 and 1906.

At Henley in 1907, Herbert was part of the Challenge Cup-winning boat that defeated the Leander Crew. Missing the Boat Race in 1906 as the “spare man”, Herbert became a double Oxford Blue in 1907 and 1908.
His performances were enough to grant him a spot in the Great Britain rowing team at the 1908 London Olympics, although he didn’t compete.

After Oxford, Herbert went on to study art in Berlin and Paris before taking up a teaching job as an assistant master at Shrewsbury College where he was popular with staff and students alike. 

At Shrewsbury, Herbert coached the school rowing team, leading them to their first Henley Regatta appearance in 1912.

Herbert was gazetted as a temporary second lieutenant into the 13th Battalion, Rifles Brigade, at the outbreak of the First World War. He served mostly in France from 1915 in the trenches of the Western Front.

By the time of the Battle of Somme, Herbert had been promoted to captain. He was killed in action during the battle in September 1916. His body was never recovered so Herbert is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Lieutenant-Commander Frederick Septimus Kelly DSC

Image: Lieutenant-Commander Frederick Kelly DSC (Public domain)

Frederick Septimus Kelly carved out an incredible dual career as an athlete and musician during his lifetime.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Frederick moved with his family to England when he was young where he and his five brothers attended Eton.

At Eton, Frederick developed his rowing skills. He first stroked the Eton Eight victory at Henley in 1899 and his career really took off.

After that, Frederick went to Balliol College Oxford. 

With his skills as a sculler rapidly developing Frederick won the Diamond Sculls in 1902, 1903, and 1905 with Balliol College. He also won the Wingfield Sculls in 1903.

On leaving Oxford, Frederick joined the Leander Club in Remenham, Berkshire where he was a member of the crew that won the Grand in 1903, 1904, and 1905, and the Steward’s Challenge Cup in 1906.
Contemporaries of Frederick held him in high praise: “his natural sense of poise and rhythm made his boat a live thing under him”.

Frederick’s final appearance in a rowing boat came at the 1908 London Olympics where he and the Leander eight took the Gold Medal for Great Britain.

Outside of rowing, Frederick’s other passion was music.

Something of a prodigy, Frederick had shown considerable talent for piano as a child. He could memorize Mozart Sonatas from a young age and began creating his own compositions.

Frederick had graduated from Oxford with a degree in history but decided to seriously pursue music. He studied at Dr Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main.

Frederick made his concert debut in Sydney in 1911 and followed this with a series of London performances the following year.

Contemporary critics believe it took Frederick a while to find his own voice but that his skills as a composer as he matured. Many believe his 1915 piece “Elegy for String Orchestra in Memoriam to Rupert Brooke” to be his best work. It is certainly his best-known.

Frederick had a close friendship with Brooke and both would serve alongside each other and other friends from the artistic community during the First World War.

Rupert Brooke died from illness aboard a French hospital ship off the island of Skyros, Greece in April 1915. Fredrick was amongst those who buried the poet in a small ceremony on Skyros.

Frederick volunteered with the Royal Naval Division on the outbreak of the First World War. 

He was commissioned as an officer, becoming part of the famous “Latin Club”, a group of officers of the Hood Battalion.

As well as Brooke, the Latin Club featured composer William Denis Browne, the British Prime Minister's second son, Arthur "Ock" Asquith, and the New Zealander Bernard Freyberg, who would later command New Zealand forces in the Second World War.

Frederick served in the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 where he was twice wounded but earned the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in action. He was also promoted to Lieutenant-Commander around this time.

When not on patrol or fighting, Frederick spent much of his free time at Gallipoli composing. It was here that he composed “Elegy for String Orchestra” as well as several other pieces. 

After evacuating from Gallipoli in December 1915, Frederick spent some time in London before his unit was transferred to France in May. 

Frederick was killed in action, aged 35, at Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre, while rushing a machine-gun post. His men recovered his body and carried it back over No Man’s Land. 

Captain Anthony Frederick Wilding

Image: Captain Anthony Wilding (Public domain)

Anthony Frederick Wilding was one of New Zealand’s greatest sportsmen and possibly its greatest-ever tennis player.

He received a racquet from Ralph Slazenger as a six-year-old and bloomed into one his era’s top tennis players. He won his first singles championship in Canterbury, New Zealand, at just 17.

In 1902, Anthony travelled to England to take up studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. While there, he joined the Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club, becoming its honorary secretary in 1904. That same year, Anthony made his first Wimbledon appearance. 

As his career progressed, Anthony racked up title after title. 

His first Davies Cup appearance came in 1905 where he won both singles. He was his first Australian Championship in 1906.

He reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1906 and second-round in 1907. Between 1907 and 1909 he was again part of the Australasian Davis Cup team helping them to three consecutive wins. He won his second Australasian Championship in 1909.

He won four back-to-back Wimbledon singles titles between 1910-1913, a record not equalled until Bjorn Borg in 1979, narrowly missing his fifth title in 1914, though gaining the mixed doubles title.

He also represented Australasia in the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics where he won bronze for the men’s indoor singles. 

The popular, successful Kiwi Tennis player also became the first player to win three ILTF World Championships on grass, clay, and wood surfaces.

Outside of tennis, Anthony was a keen motorcyclist. He used to ride his bike between tennis engagements. He even won a gold medal in a Land’s End to John O’Groats endurance rally in July 1908.

On advice from Winston Churchill, Anthony enlisted in the Royal Marines on the outbreak of the First World War. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant in October 1914, and by 1915 he was serving with the Roya Naval Armoured Car Division in Northern France.

Two more promotions followed, first to Lieutenant and then Captain, between April and May 1915.

In his last letter dated 8 May 1915 he wrote: "For really the first time in seven and a half months I have a job on hand which is likely to end in gun, I, and the whole outfit being blown to hell. However, if we succeed we will help our infantry no end."

He was killed on 9 May 1915 leading an armoured car unit at Aubers Ridge during the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle when a shell hit the dugout he was sheltering in.

Anthony is buried in Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery, Richebourg-l’Avoue.

Legacy of Champions: Their Greatest Challenge is Not Being Forgotten

Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, we pay tribute to the Olympians who died in military service in the World Wars.

These men gave their all on track and field as well as making the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefields of the World Wars.

Visit Legacy of Champions today to learn more about how we’re are keeping their memories and stories alive.