War Service
On 29 August 1916 at Auckland, Hadfield married Sereta (Sarita) May Coyle, a saleswoman. Soon after his marriage he embarked on active service with the 1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment. In 1917 he was wounded at Passchendaele (Passendale) and invalided to England. He recovered and returned to the trenches, but suffered a bronchitis attack and was recuperating in England when the war ended. He was still there when various sporting events were organised to entertain the troops awaiting repatriation after the war. When the NZEF Rowing Club was formed Hadfield became one of its most prominent members. He rowed in several winning fours and eights and proved invincible as a single sculler. He was one of 19 entrants for the singles at the Royal Henley Peace Regatta in July 1919. He won the event with ease and in the process defeated the 1912 Olympic champion, William Kinnear.
Read more about this topic: Clarence Hadfield D'Arcy
Famous quotes containing the words war and/or service:
“Haven’t you heard, though,
About the ships where war has found them out
At sea, about the towns where war has come
Through opening clouds at night with droning speed
Further o’erhead than all but stars and angels
And children in the ships and in the towns?”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The service a man renders his friend is trivial and selfish, compared with the service he knows his friend stood in readiness to yield him, alike before he had begun to serve his friend, and now also. Compared with that good-will I bear my friend, the benefit it is in my power to render him seems small.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)