John George Will

Lt. John George Will (22 September 1892 – 25 March 1917), nicknamed the "Flying Scot," was a Scottish rugby union player and Royal Flying Corps officer killed in World War I.[1][2]

Will was born in Merton, Surrey, the son of Scottish physician John Kennedy Will (from Cullen, Moray) and Ella Ryng Will (from St Helens, Lancashire).[3] He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School (1906–11) and then Downing College, Cambridge, where he played for Cambridge University RFC. He had seven caps for Scotland in 1912–14,[1] and he was dubbed the "Flying Scott" for his playing style. Will had played in the last match before the war, the Calcutta Cup match at Inverleith against England, alongside James Huggan who died in 1914, and Frederick Harding Turner and Eric Templeton Young, who died in 1915.[2]

Will joined the Artillery Company when the war began in August 1914 and was sent to France the following month. The following April he joined the Worcestershire Hussars and then switched to the Leinster Regiment the next month. In August 1915, he was wounded in action near Hooge, Belgium. He joined the Royal Flying Corps that November and earned his pilot's certificate in England in June 1916. He remained in England as an instructor in Dover before returning to the front in November 1917 with the No. 29 Squadron.[2]

Death

Few official details are available concerning Will's death. According to Nigel McCrery, who wrote the book Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War, on the morning of 25 March 1917, Will took off from Le Hameau in a Nieuport 17 A6751 in a five-plane escort mission, and he and Lieutenant Christopher Guy Gilbert (aka the Dorset Flyer) never made it back. They were apparently attacked by the Red Baron's Flying Circus. Gilbert was shot down by the Baron, while Will was shot by the baron's brother Lothar von Richthofen].[2]

Will's grave was found in December 1917, after the Allied forces made inroads into German-held territory. He was buried with a cross made from a broken propeller:

Will's remains were not reburied. He is commemorated at the Arras Flying Services Memorial.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany, p. 209. (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 McCrery, Nigel (2014). Into Touch: Rugby Internationals Killed in the Great War. Pen and Sword. pp. 192–193. ISBN 9781781590874. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  3. ↑ 1901 England Census
  4. ↑ "Casualty Details: Will, John George". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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