The RAF seek out their targets
On recognisance missions
Brave young men
Flying beyond enemy lines
Armed with nothing more than cameras
They make pass after pass
Taking shot after shot
Before returning home
With their precious load
When the photo interpreters
Of Medmenham
Enhance the images
With their stereoscope’s
To create a 3D picture
For detailed analysis
By the boffins
Who identify a target
For more brave young men
To bomb the sites
Of the vengeance weapons
St Crispin’s day has been
A bloody day in history
Famous for being a day
When battles were fought
High in the cost of life
Among these, in 1944
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
In the Pacific theatre
Of World War Two
Fought in the waters
Of the Philippine Islands
Off Cape Engaño, Samar Island
And in the Straits of Surigao
The largest naval combat
In history, between
The Navy’s of the Japanese
And the United States
When the Japanese fleet
Was comprehensive destroyed
Valiantly he fought
Against kite balloons
And the patrols alike
A young man,
In the prime of life
In two short months
In 1918
He wreaked havoc
On the enemy
He died in 1921
In an ironic death
Not taken by the bullet
Or by the bomb
But in a training accident
Flying a Sopwith Snipe
Preparing for an air show
At RAF Hendon
Captain Andrew (Anthony) Frederick Weatherby
Beauchamp-Proctor, VC, DSO, MC and bar, DFC (4 September 1894 – 21 June 1921)
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier
Was developed directly
From the Hawker Sidderley Harrier
And was used by the Royal Navy
Operating them from
Invincible-class aircraft carriers
Informally known as the "Shar"
The Sea Harrier
Served in the Falklands War,
Both Gulf Wars and the Balkans
She was French born
But died as an agent for the SOE
In June 1944 while on a mission
She was captured by the Germans
And the SD Interrogated her at Limoges
Then transferred her to 84 Avenue Foch
Their HQ in Paris
But with the Allies closing in
She was transferred to Germany
To be imprisoned at Ravensbrück
Along with two other agents
And In the early morning hours
In February 1945,
They were shot in the back of the head
Their bodies then immediately
Burned in the crematorium.
She was posthumously awarded
A British George Cross and
A French Croix de Guerre with bronze star
And the Médaille de la Résistance
A Squadron Leader is up for promotion
And a board is held in order to be fare
The S.L. must answer three questions
To ascertain if he has the right flare
The chairman to put him at his ease
Directs him to be seated in a chair
“What do you call the gas we breathe”
The squadron leader answered “air”
“What is it that grows on your head”
The squadron leader answered “hair”
“What is the name for an animals’ den”
The squadron leader answered “lair”
“Well done now just one final test
But you can still fail so take care
We are looking for a short phrase
Which will open any door you care
Arrange your previous answers to
Make the phrase to get you there”
The Squadron Leader briefly thought
Then confidently said, “air hair lair”
Don’t hate the Hun across the field
He’s not so very different to you
He doesn’t want to fight in foreign wars
He wants to be in the loving embrace
Of the sweet woman he loves
As you want to be in the arms of yours
Lord Kitchener said in his frustration
Of the indiscreet Politicians and their lives
When you tell one of their number a secret
They went home and told their wives
With the exception of David Lloyd George
Who went home and told everybody’s wives
1918 with the RFC he flew
Leaving behind the land he knew
To fly against the superior Hun
When victory after victory he won
Between 8 August 1918,
And 8 October 1918
Twenty-six decisive victories
Against determined enemies
Despite suffering a bad injury
The Guns of Navarone, is a classic War movie based on the Alistair MacLean novel of the same name and directed by J. Lee Thompson.
A British led team of six Allied and Greek
soldiers is sent to the Greek island of Navarone, occupied by German forces, to
destroy the massive German gun emplacement that commands a key sea channel, which
threatens the safe evacuation of British troops from a neighbouring island.
As if the mission is not perilous enough, with
such a large German presence on the island, they also have a traitor in their
midst.
The menacing naval guns are embedded in a
cliff with a big rock overhang, so the RAF are unable to destroy them from air,
which is why a commando team is put together under the command of Maj. Roy
Franklin (Anthony Quayle), a renowned mountain climber, Capt. Keith Mallory
(Gregory Peck) to get them up the formidable cliffs, a couple of native Greeks,
Col. Andrea Stavros (Anthony Quinn) and Spyros Pappadimos (James Darren),
explosives man, Cpl. John Anthony Miller (David Niven), and a tough anti-fascist
veteran of the Spanish Civil War, CPO 'Butcher' Brown (Stanley Baker) and they
are joined on the island by resistance fighters Maria Pappadimos (Irene Papas)
and Anna (Gia Scala).
The film is full of tension as the group keep
getting into and out of one situation after another and it crackles with
excitement up to the dramatic conclusion, a film not to be missed.
I think war is probably God's way
Of
teaching us all a lesson I’d say
But
it won’t be a lesson in theology
To Have and Have Not is based on Ernest Hemingway’s
novel and directed by Howard Hawks and tells the story of Harry Morgan
(Humphrey Bogart) and his alcoholic sidekick, Eddie (Walter Brennan), who
operate a boat for hire based on the island of Martinique During World War II.
However, because the war is going on all around
them business is not what it could be and after a customer who owes them a
large sum of money fails to pay up they are forced against their better
judgment to violate their preferred neutrality and to take a job transporting a
French Resistance leader, Paul de Bursac (Walter Szurovy) a fugitive on the run
from the Nazis to Martinique along with his wife Hellene (Dolores Moran).
His life is further complicated by the presence of
Marie “Slim” Browning (Lauren Bacall), a sassy singer in the club where Morgan
spends most of his days where pianist Cricket (Hoagy Carmichael) normally
provides the entertainment.
The enjoyable screen adaption of Hemingway's Novel
is a classic stands the test of time in its own right but it also enjoys its
place in cinematic history because it is the first screen teaming of Humphrey
Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Slavery was born of Empire
But
not a European one
Slavery
existed for centuries
In
fact thousands of years
Way
before Europe rose to the fore
Even
the Romans came late to the party
Following
in Greece’s footsteps
Peoples
were enslaved
From
around the globe
Where
there were trade routes
There
was slaving
Arabs
traded slaves bought
From
African tribesmen
Muslims
enslaved slavs
Turks
enslaved Ukrainians
Mongols
reached into the heart of Europe
And
took slaves by the thousand
White
Europeans became involved
Black
enslaved black
White
has enslaved white
I
don’t know if it will ever end
I
certainly hope so
But
what I do know is
That
the British didn’t invent it
The silence of a foggy night in the fall
Was shattered suddenly by a radio call
“Unknown vessel divert your course please
And
steer to the north by fifteen degrees
Recommend
you make this correction
That we might avoid a head on collision”
The reply came “Divert YOUR course please
And
steer to the south by fifteen degrees
Recommend
you make this correction
That
we might avoid a head on collision”
“This
is the Captain of the USS Codfish
I
say again, divert YOUR course forthwith”
The
Reply came back “No, I say again
You
must divert you course you can’t remain”
This
is the USS Codfish not a garbage scow
We’re a large warship divert your course now!
“I don’t care whether you are large or small”
“This is a lighthouse” Said the reply “your call”
A nuclear war, can they say
Ruin your whole bloody day
For in any atomic hostility
All men are cremated equally
Key Largo, directed by John Huston, is a post war triller in which Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) travels to a seedy run-down hotel on Key Largo to honour the memory of a friend who died bravely in his unit during WW II.
At the hotel he meets his friend's widow, Nora
Temple (Lauren Bacall), and wheelchair bound father, James Temple (Lionel
Barrymore) who manage the hotel, and they receive him warmly.
As
a hurricane approaches the three of them soon find themselves virtual
prisoners when the hotel is taken over by a mob of gangsters led by Johnny
Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) who hold up at the hotel to wait for the storm to pass.
Mr. Temple makes it perfectly clear that they
are not welcome but due to his infirmities his protest are only verbal.
Meanwhile Frank is reluctant to act, having
had a belly full of violence during the war, but after the constant demeaning
treatment of his alcoholic moll, Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor), and Rocco’s
catalogue of killings, he is forced to take action.
Key Largo is a great movie and Bogart and
Edward G. Robinson put in great performances and there is a tension that does
not let up for a single second and keeps you on the edge of your seat from
begin to end.
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito
Was
a British multi-role combat aircraft
"The
Wooden Wonder"
Known
more affectionately
As
the "Mossie" to its crews
Was
the most versatile
British
aircraft
Of
the Second World War
Casablanca is a wartime drama directed by Michael Curtiz, in which Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), is a cynical world-weary ex-patriate who runs a nightclub in French Morocco during the early stages of WWII.
Rick's cafe has become a kind of haven for
refugees seeking to obtain forged documents that will help them escape to
America and he is used to running the gauntlet between the local authorities
and the criminal fraternity,
But one day Isla Lund (Ingrid Bergman), a
former lover of Rick's, and her husband, a well known anti-fascist leader,
Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), show up to his cafe, and Rick faces a tough
decision, as events complicate his life.
Casablanca is a film with many special
moments, but chief among them is when the orchestra plays La Marsellaise and
Paul Henreid leads them and the rest of the non-Germans in the cafe in a
rousing rendition and 80 years later, I still get a thrill from the stirring
act of defiance.
It’s a fabulous film, a timeless classic, which
won the Oscar for Best Picture and best director for Michael Curtiz in 1943.
Both of these awards were due in no small part to the superb supporting cast of
Claude Rains (Captain Louis Renault), Conrad Veidt (Major Heinrich Strasser),
Sydney Greenstreet (Signor Ferrari), Peter Lorre (Ugarte), S.Z. Sakall (Carl),
Madeleine Lebeau (Yvonne) and Dooley Wilson as Sam
Casablanca will be seen and loved by filmgoers
for generations to come.
She was French born
But
died as an agent for the SOE
In
June 1944 “Ambroise”
She
was captured by the Germans
After
lengthy interrogation
She
was transferred to Germany
To
be imprisoned at Ravensbrück
Along
with two other agents
And
in the early morning hours
In
February 1945,
They
were shot in the back of the head
Their
bodies then immediately
Burned
in the crematorium.
She
was posthumously awarded
A
Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct
And
a French Croix de Guerre with bronze star
A
French Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
And
the Médaille de la Résistance
1915 in the RNAS he flew
When
a Zeppelin came into view
In
the skies over Ghent
So,
in hot pursuit he went
Taking
heavy machine gun fire
Warneford
quickly climbed higher
To
take up position over head
Where
soon the sky turned red
Where
the bombs he dropped
Saw
the Zeppelin stopped
Exploding
in a ball of fire
Blowing
Warneford up higher
Overturning
the attacking plane
Stopping
its engine, which wouldn’t start again
So,
he had to land on enemy soil
And
in the darkness quickly toil
To
restart the engines and get on his way
So,
he could fight another day
Flt Lt Reginald Alexander John Warneford VC
(15
October 1891 – 17 June 1915)
The
Hawker Hurricane
Always overshadowed by the Spitfire
Whether
as an interceptor-fighter
Or
a fighter-bomber
Yet
during the Battle of Britain
It
shouldered a greater proportion
Of
the burden against the Luftwaffe.
Time to scramble Tiny
Up
into the blue
Up
above your ceiling
To
once more join your crew
Look
lively there Rupert
Fly
on, fly on
Up
above your ceiling
To rejoin
the squadron
Pilots loved to fly
The
Vickers Wellington
From
take off
To
the end of the mission
And
the final approach
When
the trusty Wellington
Almost
landed itself
When
you cut ignition
It
just let you down
Like
a babe on a cushion
With the RFC he flew
Over
the country that he knew
Defending
against the Zeppelin
Flying
in the air so thin
Then
in 1916 in the dark of night
He
attacked an airship in flight
Amidst
machine guns chattering sound
He
brought the beast to ground
The
first of his kind to do the deed
To
attack a Zeppelin and succeed
The
first Zeppelin kill in British skies
Robinson
victorious after many tries
Flt Lt William Leefe Robinson VC
(14
July 1895 – 31 December 1918)
