Page 75 - They Also Served

– his 1914 confidential report describes him as ‘too valuable to be spared for active service’. However, Maclear had the comment struck from his record and joined a recruiting depot in Cork, responsible for sending drafts of men to the front. Having escorted groups to various Irish regiments, he took the last to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who were in the trenches at Ploegsteert. There, he convinced the commanding officer to allow him to remain. Two visiting generals commented that Maclear was too valuable to lose and must be sent to the staff, but the Second Battle of Ypres began and the battalion was rushed to the front. During intense fighting with heavy casualties, Maclear went from company commander to second in command to commanding officer in four days.
On 25th May 1915, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers were subjected to one of the first gas attacks and almost surrounded by Germans. Maclear led a bombing party to drive the enemy back and was shot and killed; his body was never recovered . He is commemorated on the Menin Gate. One of his soldiers wrote: ‘He was a man every single one of us would have risked our lives to save’. The battalion was decimated, with only one officer and 20 soldiers surviving out of 666 men. In September 2015, Basil Maclear became the 96th player to be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
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