REMEMBER THEM WITH COMPASSION

 

Remember them with compassion

And not with jaundiced eye

Remember them with gratitude

For they went to war to die

Remember them with pride

Their honour we must not deny

Remember it’s because of them

We stand beneath a free blue sky

ON REMEMBRANCE DAY

 

On Remembrance Day,

We honour the sacrificial dead

Those dedicated souls who.

Offered their lives in war

And were accepted

They were the loved ones,

Of their generation

They are the pride of ours

THE TREATY

 

The eleventh hour

The T’s were crossed

And the I’s were dotted

The eleventh day

Books were balanced

Of the butcher’s tally

The eleventh month

Seeds were sown

For the Second World War

By the French at Versailles

REMEMBRANCE FOR UNCLE JOHN - John Holt 1887-1916

 

“Your country needs you”

We heard Kitchener say to us

We took the Kings shilling

Without any fuss

 

Lads and Pals all marched

Crowds cheering jubilantly

Then crossed the English Channel

To halt the advancing enemy

 

The distant we gain in battle

Against the loss of a comrade

Is measured in inches at best

As we play out Hague’s Charade

 

We came as proud young men

To halt the invaders advance

Only to live and die

In the mud of western France

 

In the cloying mud of France

Once rich and fertile soil

No longer appears like earth

And now is as slippery as oil

 

The mud colours everything

Even we try and fail to stay clean 

Mud has consumed the landscape

And hides the dead unseen

 

Subtle hints of another time

Some old Tree stumps remain

A jagged piece of wall sometimes

Will it ever be normal again?

 

Trenches have become home

Trench foot and rats our companion’s

Shellfire is our music hall

Mortars and rifles our musicians

 

We escape the daily horror

But only within our own minds

Where we explore familiar places

Far beyond the wars confines

 

The enemy are much like us

Their thoughts take them away

To a peaceful quiet land

On a peaceful quiet day

 

I sit in my muddy trench

My eyes closed to all but my wife

My sweet and beloved Tilly

The most important part of my life

 

Many fallen comrades lie

Where they fell upon the field

They saw no sense to fight

But still they refused to yield

 

After three long years

In the vile and muddy hell

I climbed out of my trench

And with my comrades fell

ON THE BLOODY FIELD OF BATTLE

 

Bright burnished copper shields

Shined bright as gold in the midday sun

Spear points glinted in the sun

Like a myriad of dancing fireflies

Silver lights blinked from polished

Buckles and embellishments

The clink of metal on metal

The snort of impatient horses

The barking of impatient sergeants

Leather creaked and strained

On soldier and beast

All the sights brought back to mind

Vivid remembrances

And the sounds spoke a familiar tongue

To the battle hardened

Anticipation dried the mouth

Almost as much as the dust

Banners fluttered lightly in the breeze

Some standing as tall as trees

And carrion eaters waited unseen

For the coming banquet

Then the battle commenced

With an ensuing cacophony

Many died quickly, painlessly

Not even seeing the fatal blow

Equally many died slowly

In agony from their wounds

Others lay on the bloody field

For hours and survived

Only to fight and die another day

The victors write the history

Of the bloody day’s events

The truth also lies dying

On the bloody field of battle

ON THE BATTLE GROUND

 

Soldiers stand in contemplation

Young faces etched in concentration

NCO’s keep them holding steady

 

A mounted officer comes prancing

Upon his steed nervously dancing

Then comes the order to be ready

 

Nervously awaiting engagement

Standing firm for the regiment

Then artillery is exchanged

 

Just stand fast and hold the line

Just do that lads and all is fine

Then the bugles tune is changed

 

The air fills with acrid smoke

And men must stand and choke

After the muskets flash

 

Across the open ground

The heavy horse’s pound

And then the sabres clash

 

The lancers Bodies tumble

As the legs of horses crumple

And lie on the battleground

 

Wounded cut and bleeding

Their Precious life receding

The lucky die without a sound

 

Remember the fallen brothers

Dying for you and others

Remember the forgotten

 

On foreign fields they lay

Buried deep beneath the clay

Remember the forgotten

 

Remember the forgotten

Beneath the earth and rotten

They’re heroes one and all

 

So tell the valiant story

Let us remember them in glory

For those who stand and fall

THE FAVERSHAM SAINTS

 

A Christian Legend tells

That Crispin and Crispinian

The Roman Princes,

Saints and shoemakers,

Lived for a short time

During the 3rd century

In the Kent town of Faversham

The association is recalled

By a plaque on the Swan,

In Market Street

THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA

 

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 1854

Was the Battle of Balaclava

Or more specifically

The Charge of the Light Brigade

A disastrous tactical blunder

By ill commanded British forces

Against the Russian Artillery

In the Crimean War

THE BANASTRE REBELLION

 

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 1315

A century before Agincourt,

Was the Banastre Rebellion

Against the Earl of Lancaster

When disaffected Knights

Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea

And William Bradshaw,

Led an attack on Liverpool Castle

THE BATTLE OF OSAGE

 

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 1864

The Battle of Osage

In the American Civil War

Fought between Union

And Confederate forces

In Linn County, Kansas

During the Missouri Raid

By the Confederate Army

Of Missouri, led by

Major General Sterling Price

THE FIRST BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD

 

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 1861

The first Battle of Springfield

Was an early battle

Of the American Civil War

Between Union and

Confederate forces

In Springfield, Missouri

THE BATTLE OF TRADING POST

 

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 1864

The Battle of Trading Post

In the American Civil War

Fought between Union

And Confederate forces

In Linn County, Kansas

During the Missouri Raid

By the Confederate Army

Of Missouri, led by

Major General Sterling Price

THE BATTLE OF MARAIS DES CYGNES

 

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 1864

The Battle of Marais des Cygnes

In the American Civil War

Fought between Union

And Confederate forces

In Linn County, Kansas

During the Missouri Raid

By the Confederate Army

Of Missouri, led by

Major General Sterling Price

THE SECOND BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN

 

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 1942

The Second Battle of El Alamein,

The Eighth Army offensive, led by

Lieutenant-General Montgomery

Ending in an Allied victory

Which proved to be

The beginning of the end

Of the Western Desert Campaign.

Eliminating the Axis threat

To Egypt, the Suez Canal

And the Middle Eastern

And the Persian oil fields

 

THE BATTLE OF HENDERSON FIELD

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 1942

The Battle of Henderson Field

In the Pacific theatre

Of World War Two

In and around Guadalcanal

In the Solomon Islands.

A land, sea, and air battle

Of the Pacific campaign

Between the forces

Of Japan and the United States

  

THE BATTLE OF SHANGANI

 

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 1893

The Battle of Shangani

In the First Matabele War

When a British column

Was attacked by a large force

Of Matabele warriors.

The British repulsed them

With heavy loss of life

To the Matabele force.

The battle is best noted

For being the first battle

In which the Maxim gun

Was used to great effect