Les Spence
-
Just found a wonderful memory of Cardiff’s historic win at the Twickenham Sevens in the spring of 1939 in an article from Wales Online. The team featured Les Spence and Wilf Wooller who three years later would be captured by the Japanese in Java. Les kept a secret diary (of which a lot more here:
-
“We hear from the guards that one bomb blew up Nagasaki.” Les Spence writes in his diary, August 1945 For more than three years during World War II, Les Spence was a prisoner of the Japanese. Spence, who would later go on to become president of the Welsh Rugby Union, had been captured in early March
-
The 77th HAA (Heavy Anti Aircraft) Regiment was created to provide air protection for Cardiff, Newport and Barry, and surrounding districts. Many of its members were local sportsmen who joined up together, such as Les Spence, who been Cardiff Rugby Club captain during the 1936-37 season, and his team-mate Wilf Wooller. Other sports stars in