A SOLDIER DIED TODAY
Originally Titled, “JUST A COMMON SOLDIER”
by A. Lawrence Vaincourt ©1985
He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.
And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbours, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.
He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?
A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.
It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?
He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honour while he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.
Moggy
The italics are mine, not the author’s.
By: heslop01 - 5th June 2009 at 22:30
What gets me is that the 2 great wars are not generally taught at GCSE level, it focuses more on history before the wars and back to 1066 etc. Our children, and our children’s children must be educated properly on how important WWI & II were in shaping our futures.
Unfortunately thats true. I didn’t take GCSE or A level history, but A level history is Elizabeth I, Henry VII, Russian History, Louis 14th and the French Revolution …
We did study world war 2 in year 8, I remember my teacher Mrs Steele saying ” these were the people who gave you all your freedom. They should always be remembered to you as heroes and never be scorned upon. If it wans’t for them, we’d all be German.”
By: Deano - 5th June 2009 at 22:21
These Great men & women should never ever be forgotten, they paid the ultimate sacrifice for our liberty.
Thanks to Kev35 I have found out alot of detail about my Great Uncle who died for the cause liberating Burma from the Japanese in 1944. We are currently researching more and more. My eternal thanks must go to Kev, he knows how I feel about it.
What gets me is that the 2 great wars are not generally taught at GCSE level, it focuses more on history before the wars and back to 1066 etc. Our children, and our children’s children must be educated properly on how important WWI & II were in shaping our futures.
This little poem says it all
[color=red]When you go home,
Tell Them of us and say,
For your tomorrow,
We gave our today.[/color]
By: Moggy C - 5th June 2009 at 22:11
Foreign Field should be compulsory viewing.
Moggy
By: Pondskater - 5th June 2009 at 19:15
Thanks Moggy, powerful sentiment. Could have been written yesterday not 25 years ago.
I might dig out my old video tape of A Foreign Field (Alec Guiness and Leo McKern) over the weekend. Marvellous poignant old film.
Or perhaps some Keith Douglas poetry, who was, of course, killed in Normandy.
By: heslop01 - 5th June 2009 at 18:24
Great piece of writing! It reminds me totally of a war poem I done back in year 9
” Dulce et Decorum est, Pro patria mori “
By: Brian Doherty - 5th June 2009 at 06:44
Thanks for that Moggie, I had never heard it before, it is a beautifull piece of writing that puts poetry back into our lives.
Brian.:)
By: steve rowell - 5th June 2009 at 06:31
Australia’s last Great war veteran passed today at 110 years old
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25582692-2862,00.html
By: BumbleBee - 4th June 2009 at 22:38
God bless them and everyone else who served in WWII.Their sacrifice gave me and my daughter’s generation a lifetime of peace and they must never be forgotten.Seeing some of the military cemeteries in Normandy,and the heartbreakingly young ages on them,was a very moving experience when I was a student .
By: kev35 - 4th June 2009 at 21:43
That’s an impressive piece of writing. Thanks for posting that.
65 years ago tonight, thousands of men were making their final preparations for the Invasion of Europe. Many were packed in ships in harbours all along the south coast. Thousands of others, the Airborne element, were standing down for the night after being told that there was to be a weather delay. As John Wayne’s character says in The Longest Day – “wind and rain, wind and rain.”
My family’s personal involvement in Eisenhower’s “great and noble undertaking” fell to my Uncle Stan. He was an AB in the Royal Navy and 65 years ago tonight, his ship, HMS Arethusa, was preparing for their part in the coming battle. At the appointed hour on D-Day they were to engage targets in the Caen area in support of the Airborne landings.
As night fell the Germans remained blissfully unaware that in just over 24 hours, many thousands of Airborne troops would be landing all across Normandy and the Cotentin Peninsula. Those who would make the jump in just over 24 hours were also blissfully unaware that many would be dropped many miles from their intended drop zones. Others would arrive by glider with pinpoint accuracy. The Germans remained blissfully unaware that in just under 36 hours the biggest armada in history would disgorge thousands of troops onto the beaches of Normandy.
The combined weight of the Allied Air Forces were also to play their part.
But all of that was yet to come. Tonight, there were last letters home. The realisation for the Commanders that there was nothing more to plan, nothing else that could be done. The die were cast. The waiting interminable. The outcome far from certain.
And tonight, some 65 years on, I watched on the local news as men in their eighties set off on what many were saying will be their last journey to Normandy. Proud men in Berets, Tam o’Shanters and forage caps, medals worn above the badges of the Normandy Vetern’s Association. Most now carry walking sticks instead of Lee Enfields. Their movements stiff and sore. But when you look at their eyes their isn’t one of them who isn’t twenty years of age again.
All I can do is wish them well. A safer landing and a more cordial welcome than the one they got 65 years ago.
Regards,
kev35
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June 4, 2009 at 8:55 pm