As we spend today remembering those who have fallen, we learn more about stories rooted in rugby on this Memorial Day.
To commemorate the holiday, USA Rugby reflects on a few stories of service and sacrifice from within our rugby community. While so many additional members of our sport spend this day honoring stories closest to them, the below are just a few examples of how rugby remembers.
Frank Jacob “Deke” Gard lived a fleeting but remarkably impactful life defined by leadership on both the rugby pitch and the battlefields. An athlete and graduate at Stanford University, Gard’s strength as a flanker earned him a spot on the first ever USA National Team - then named the All Americans comprised primarily of collegiate athletes - during their first match in 1912, playing Australia. Gard holds Men's Eagle No. 5, of which there are now almost 600. Only days later, Gard again stepped on the rugby field against the famed New Zealand All Blacks, where he served as Captain.
Though rugby was his strength, his duty would become service as WWI diverted him to the trenches. Commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army's 91st Division, Gard was stationed in France, where he was killed in action on September 27, 1918, during the brutal Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
Brothers on Three is a 2025 documentary that offers a multi-level look at the Army West Point Men’s Rugby team as they fight to defend their 2022 Collegiate National Championship. Directed and produced by West Point graduates and former rugby players Sean Mullin and Brian Anthony, the documentary follows the squad through the grueling highs and heartbreaking lows of their season to reveal how the program serves as a powerful crucible for developing future military leaders. The film ultimately stands as a tribute to the resilience of the cadets and the enduring legacy of the former players who have laid down their lives in service to their country.
Read the introspective article on the film by Martin Pengelly of The Guardian, and see below the the film's trailer.
On Memorial Day, many throughout the rugby community and country as a whole, will commemorate the lives of those lost in service to their country. A celebratory, but also heartbreaking day that reminds us of not only those fallen in the act of duty, but the surviving families and loved ones. In 2021, a member of the USA Rugby family and United States Marine Corps Veteran, Capt. Kandis Ruiz lost her battle with cancer, survived by her wife, USA Eagle Kittery Wagner Ruiz and daughter Kyliana. Whether lost in active duty or elsewhere, Kittery and Kyliana join the same heartache and challenges of many families across the country. Read the full story below, and how programs like TAPS are there in support.
Read and learn about Old Breed Rugby, a team of active duty and veteran Marines and Navy Corpsmen, that at one time played rugby in the Marine Corps. Formed in 2005 following the death of Lt. Col. Kevin M. Shea who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004. Now 20 years on the pitch, the team motto remains the same, "We played with them, now we play for them."
Learn more about Lt. Col. Shea through the short PBS documentary telling his military and rugby story, with the rugby portion beginning at minute marker 9:49.
