On Saturday 14 October 2017 there will be a rugby match like no other. Proving the power of sport to enrich lives, some of the world’s greatest rugby legends will battle it out to raise funds to enable World War Two heroes to make a special trip of remembrance.
The monies raised will allow veterans, now in their 90’s who fought at the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, to return to Italy. Accompanied by a relative, carer and medical staff they will be able to say a last farewell to their fallen comrades.
Many have expressed a wish to Remembrance Travel, the travel arm of the Royal British Legion, to revisit this pivotal battlefield which so impacted their young lives.
Although it was one of the toughest campaigns of the Second World War, the Battle of Monte Cassino, which lasted five months and ended in mid-May 1944, was almost immediately overshadowed by the Allied landings in Normandy two weeks later.
The Legends v Legionnaires Rugby Match will take place at the exceptional ground of the members –only, Honourable Artillery Company. The venue, within the City of London, is unlike any other: a magnificent Georgian house set in five acres, hidden away in a quiet location just a couple of minutes’ walk from Moorgate.