US Military Polo team to commemorate 80th anniversary of D-Day on the beaches of Normandy 

Polo and the military have a long and storied history together. The sport continues to promote international bonds with other nations, not least this summer when the USA arrive on the Normandy beaches to play against the French on June 6th, the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Major (Ret.) Mark Gillespie, spent 20 years in the US Army and has been instrumental in promoting polo and military relations, including organizing this iconic trip to France. “We are also sending an active duty military polo team to England this summer for the Chapple Cup series [at Guards Polo Club] with a recently retired 2-star General as our Chef équipe,” said Mark who is the Chairman of the United States Polo Association’s [USPA] Armed Forces Committee and also the USPA’s representative on the Federation of International Polo’s international military committee, formed three years ago.

“We recently got to send an American military team to Palermo on 22nd March. So in short, there is some momentum building on the international military polo front.”

For centuries, polo’s history has been entwined with the military. The sport of polo originated in Persia some 2,500 years ago and was adopted by both leaders and royalty as a pastime. Polo was also used as a training method for the cavalry, as it was found to be an effective method of simulating warfare and implementing military strategy. The first known polo match was said to have been played in 600 B.C. between the Persians and the Turkomans. The primitive versions of the game were anarchic undertakings and, according to legend, the severed head of enemies were used in replacement of a ball.

Lieutenant Colonel Peterson, US Army, receiving a polo jersey in friendship from his opponent Major Will Mawby, UK Royal Army after a match in the Churchill-Roosevelt Cup series played in Virginia 2023.

The modern-day version of polo has helped build overseas relations between armed forces. ‘From personal experience, I know of no other sport that generates such deep and lasting international friendships,’ Mark wrote in an article for the Association of the United States Army. ‘In addition, sending U.S. military polo teams overseas can provide U.S. ambassadors and defense attachés the opportunity to attend matches where they can meet with top foreign defense officials for substantive conversations in a relaxed atmosphere.

‘In one instance, in 1994, the U.S. ambassador to India sent the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a cable praising the U.S. military polo team that came there and requested they keep coming over. Why? It gave him two hours of time to chat one on one, sitting next to the Indian army chief of staff with no one listening in, which otherwise was impossible to do.’

The USA lineup for the French tour includes the former Chairman of the USPA – Joe Meyer, who was a Major in the Army. Also Jake Flournoy who was a Captain in the Marine Corps and whose family owns Upatoi Polo Club in Georgia. They are joined by Patrick Shannahan who just left the Army as a Captain, and Army Captain Angus Paradice – the son of Scone polo team patron, David Paradice.

After Deauville, the team go on to play at Chantilly and at the Chateau de Courances. “We commemorated the 50th and the 75th anniversaries of D-Day with polo matches at the Deauville Polo Club,” said Mark. “But this will be the first time playing on the Normandy beaches.”

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