This doesn’t surprise me especially where we are in Britain at this moment in time, when the old service men complain about the state of our country and question whether their service was in vain. 100 year old WW2 Navy veteran Alec Penstones TV interview comes to mind.
This poem I have written especially for Armistice Day, I would like to dedicate to my maternal Grandfather L/Cpl Ernest Henry Brough 138242. 62nd Machine Gun Corp who survived the first world war and was able to return home.
Can you hear that noise,
It’s the old soldier turning in his grave,
Now someone’s made him angry,
Fought for a country to save,
No wonder he’s not happy,
This situation is a joke,
Surrender of their youth,
With all that blood to soak,
Down into the earth,
On some foreign soil,
I do hope people appreciate,
The British soldiers toil,
If “Gott mit uns”,
For a soldier named Schmidt,
Why can’t God stop this,
Is it beyond his remit?
Some seek the “Romance” of war,
To re-enact the battle sound,
But when the real bullets return,
Their bodies pressed to the ground,
As my grandfather told me,
“We mowed them down like grass”,
In his own words exactly,
Memories fade but not to pass,
We wouldn’t accept this today,
To destroy a young generation,
With the art of modern warfare,
For a Cenotaph adoration.
Politicians can say what they like,
With all the ties they bring,
No one wants to die for them,
Just for their Country and King,
The commercialisation of the Poppy,
Funds for a legion to raise,
The people’s parade on the Sunday,
A church service full of praise,
For the boys that go off to war,
Only to be killed as men,
A sacrifice on the altar,
Over and over and over……again.
James Findon © 2025.
