spike10764 Posted 19 November , 2006 Share Posted 19 November , 2006 Excellent Kim.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres1418 Posted 19 November , 2006 Share Posted 19 November , 2006 Oh Kim, you caught me with that one, Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Posted 19 November , 2006 Share Posted 19 November , 2006 yes that really is fab Kim! yes that really is fab Kim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunboat Posted 23 November , 2006 Share Posted 23 November , 2006 11th Hour, 11th day, 11th Month There were no cheers, no shouts, no celebration When our colonel read the order “At 11am all action will cease” Men of my battery just looked at their boots Or carried on with those little routines or drills that had sustained them Through the hours of boredom or offered comfort when the shells Fell thick upon us I shrugged my shoulders took from my pocket some chocolate My dear Rose had sent me Took the cigarette that Archie offered Gave him in return some chocolate And we leant against the gun wheel and lit up. The BSM walked past and I asked him straight “What happens now sir?” “Well….” he took off his helmet, scratched his head And looked somewhere into the now silent distance “ I suppose you will be going home” he said And with a shrug “ I’ve still got a bit more soldiering to do…I suppose” He walked on looking for all the world a man Whose purpose in life had ceased to exist. And we talked of going home It did know then how much I would come to loathe that day That bloody loathsome day 11th hour 11th day 11th Month I find it hard to explain as I lie here now 33years to the day With just a few minutes breathe left in me Why I curse that day, why above all I curse that day, Nurse, Nurse…..they knew, they knew…. Yes…yes… I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to grab your arm so tightly It’s just that I need you to know they knew! Yes…Yes I will sit up thank you” Will you listen please? I was never against the war I for one believed the old lie And when I was called from the reserve I accepted that I might die Might die and yet I longed to serve And even though four years past, four long years With only ten days leave at home. Ten days after 3 years at the front! But what days they were Because it was then I married In those ten days I married my dear Rose Whose letters meant so much to me So much, that we kept them in a little box Tied with a yellow ribbon Until Ten Years to the day, that cursed day 11th hour 11th Day 11th Month Into the fire they went with my medals and my Memories. Only my memories didn’t burn They stayed. I did my bit Nurse, I drove the guns in and drove the guns out I saw men shot or shelled out of their saddles And had beasts blown from beneath me But I never once spoke against the war Do you believe that nurse….its true I did what I was told. I did what I had to do What changed, what changed? Do you know what happened on the 8th hour 10th day 11th Month No of course not but I do In my dreams I relive that day One of our guns took a direct hit Six men killed, six men who could already feel the warmth Of their home fires, because they had heard the rumors Rumors that any day soon it would all be over Charlie, “Cheerful Charlie we called him, always ready to joke Rubbed his hands in the cold snap of that autumn morning “ Not long to go boys, not long to go, I’ve heard it’ll be all over soon We made it we’ll be going home soon boys” I remember the warm spray of his blood on my face The cold lump of meat that was once a hand And that last sickening handshake as I put it All that was left of him, into a sand bag. So tell me nurse, why did it have to be 11th Hour of the 11th day 11th Month. When they knew, the knew it was already over Why did so many have to die in those dying hours of the war How could they explain to those families that had heard The war was over, had given thanks to God that Their son, brother, husband, father was now safe Only to find that they had died in those last weeks, Last days, last hours, last minutes. Oh God what waste! In a war so filled with waste was their any greater Waste than this…any greater waste than this? What time is it nurse…10.59 Oh perhaps it is right then that I should die now Thirty three years to the day And no less a casualty of war. In memory of Driver George Jackson 25.2.1885 - 11.11.1951 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres1418 Posted 23 November , 2006 Share Posted 23 November , 2006 Very moving Gunboat and so real for so many of the men who survived those last few weeks, days and hours. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 23 November , 2006 Share Posted 23 November , 2006 Gunboat, that is a wonderful poem. Very sad. Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 23 November , 2006 Share Posted 23 November , 2006 Enjoyed that! Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 24 November , 2006 Share Posted 24 November , 2006 Gunboat, I tip my hat to you....that is the sort of poem I wish I had written...excellent. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landsturm Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 Great stuff! As usual Being as systematic as I am it would be nice to decide the next Pal to come up with the December title... so who's turn is it? Also if possible, it would be nice to announce title maybe day or two before December the 1st So we (at least I) can start fitting it to my hellish schedule... I have tons of work to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 I'd like to see Marina suggest a title. Cheers Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres1418 Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 i'll vote for Marina too, if not i do have one up my sleeve. mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landsturm Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 OK... Marina, could you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 How about Casualty Clearing Station? Walking Wounded? Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres1418 Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 Both sound fine to me Marina, put them together? walking to the casualty clearing station? Would they walk to that? Some must have, surely, or were they too far behind the lines? Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 Either the CCs, or on their way there, or a combination of both. Nice dramatic picture! Or poem! Or Prose! Or model! Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres1418 Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 you going to start the new topic today? Landstrum wants prior notice to arrange his schedule and being the kind people we are..................well nuff said. mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 Great choice, Marina. Cheers Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 29 November , 2006 Share Posted 29 November , 2006 Hope ot inspires work t th elevel of what we got this month! Don;t see why people can't start today - tomorrow is the last day of the month. I'll start a thread for it. Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 30 November , 2006 Share Posted 30 November , 2006 Anyone want to do the poll ? Marina???? perhaps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 1 December , 2006 Share Posted 1 December , 2006 It's Ok I'll do the poll- I've got a bit of spare time today.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Best Posted 5 December , 2006 Share Posted 5 December , 2006 Powerful poem, Gunboat. Much moved. Thank you. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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