Ahead of Remembrance Day this Wednesday, Proprietor John Gorman has provided a thought provoking piece, ‘I Remember The Somme’.
I Remember …
I Remember …
I Remember The Somme
I Remember that day … that 1st July 1916
I Remember waking at dawn
sleepy and bleary-eyed,
My stomach rising in my throat
Threatening to choke me
I Remember lying there and thinking
of what lay ahead
it showed in the eyes
of every one of us.
I Remember that dawn …
whispering on the horizon in the East
the glimmering first streak of that day
the stirrings of birds
their muted calls
the stirrings of soldiers
their muttered curses
their muttered prayers
I Remember the trenches
miles and miles of and miles of trenches
and the stench … of men
in the clench of fear
I Remember the rising of the sun …
the sun hot … baking hot … burning hot …
beating down and heating up
the trenches
soldiers gasping
soldiers sweating
soldiers sweltering
I Remember the rain …
the relentless rain
soaking … drenching
that had filled the trenches
swilling around feet
clothes soaking
water running down backs
running through the trenches
filling every crack
boots filling with water
rotting leather … rotting socks … rotting skin
I Remember teetering on the edge of panic
as we waited for Zero Hour
I Remember the breakfast
the last breakfast for so many men
men being cheerful
men filled with despair
men being fearful
men filled with hope
men who couldn’t cope
I Remember the songs echoing through the trenches …
I Remember we listened transfixed with nostalgia
to a lone voice …
“… I wonder who’s
kissing her now,
Wonder who’s teaching her how,
Wonder who’s looking into her eyes
Breathing sighs, telling lies …”
I Remember another soldier singing a beautiful ballad …
“… Roses are shining in
Picardy,
In the hush of the silvery dew.
Roses are flow’ring in Picardy,
But there’s never a rose like you …!”
I Remember a huddled group of Pals
filling a corner of a trench
singing to raise the morale
“…
Mademoiselle
from Armentieres, Parlez-vous,
Mademoiselle
from Armentieres, Parlez-vous,
Mademoiselle
from Armentieres,
She hasn’t
been kissed for forty years.
Hinky-dinky parlez-vous. …”
I Remember everyone joining in
singing full-voiced,
“… What’s the use of
worrying?
It never was worth while.
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag,
And smile, smile, smile …”
I Remember Soldiers singing as they waited …
waitied for Zero Hour
I Remember we had waited through the bombardment
from nearly 1500 allied guns
eight days of continuous bombardment
1000’s and 1000s of nerve-shattering shells
blasting … bursting
to destroy the enemy defences,
But … As we waited …
We didn’t know that of the allied guns,
only 467 were Heavies
and just 34 of those
were 9.2″ calibre or greater.
We didn’t know that only 30 tons of explosive
would fall per mile of British front.
We didn’t know that of the 12,000 tons fired
two thirds of it was shrapnel
and only 900 tons of it
would penetrate bunkers.
We didn’t know that the enemy fortifications
were virtually untouched
We didn’t know that the bombardment had failed
that the barbed wire was still intact
that the machine-gun nests were still intact
that the concrete bunkers were still intact
I Remember that as I waited
I was thinking of home
home with my wife
home with my kids
home with the dog …
fifteen minutes to Zero Hour
I Remember the padre holding a service
and asking God …
To watch over us
To keep us safe
To protect us from harm
I Remember My prayer as we waited
My prayer to survive and get back home
ten minutes to Zero Hour
I Remember the noise of our guns stopped
And in that moment of deathly quiet
the wind seemed to stop
Then …
I Remember the silence being broken by
the fury of a creeping barrage
let loose like a wall of roaring sound before us.
as the artillery shifted their aim
to precede the advance to the enemy lines
five minutes to Zero Hour
I Remember the order to ‘… STAND BY …’
I Remember standing there … bayonet fixed
thinking of home
of the corner shop
of school
of my pal, Harry
of the games we played
I Remember Zero Hour
I Remember the whistles …
the order ‘… LADDERS …’
I Remember the order ‘… OVER THE TOP …’
Over the Top
Over the Top
The order ran down our lines
Over the Top
Do not stop
Charge the enemy lines
Over the Top
Over the Top
Watch out for the enemy mines
Watch out for the wire
Watch our for their fire
I went Over the Top
mouthing a last-minute prayer
I Remember that the ground was
churned and blasted
Ravaged and scarred
but
I Remember that in that badly shocked ground
there were the Poppies
bright … red … gentle … delicate …
I Remember that the Infantry was to create a gap
For the cavalry to charge through to Cambrai and Douai,
I Remember that the mile of no-man’s land
was no longer a neutral zone
no longer a no-go zone
no longer a no-man’s land
It was a land of death
of falling and stumbling
of shrapnel and fragments
of pain and horror
of Screaming and Shrieking
of Moaning and Pleading and Begging
I Remember Harry …. my pal … and I
walked into a No-man’s land of
dead trees … dead grass … dead earth … men dead
I Remember Harry …. my pal … and I
moving into a world
of sodden mud
of crushed green
of weeping bark
of spoilt khaki
the one bright colour
Was the red of the Poppy
and the red of blood
the blood of the wounded …
the maimed and the spoilt …
and the dead … the bloody dead
I Remember the Barb-wired barriers
the minefields bristling with death
I Remember the terror of the Battlefield
the horror of the Battlefield
the no more tomorrow Battlefield
I Remember wave after wave of soldiers
row after row of soildiers
rank upon rank of soldiers
Soldiers full of startling courage
Soldiers full of stirring bravery
Soldiers full of spurring determination
Soldiers shouting …
Soldiers yelling …
Soldiers calling …
Soldiers falling …
Soldiers faliing one by one
falling like dead leaves
falling and lying
falling and dying
I Remember the crying
crying in pain … crying for relief
crying in despair … crying for release
I Remember soldiers lying and dying in the no-man’s life
lying on the battlefield between life and death
so many miles from home
lying with life’s blood
seeping and drying into the soil
I Remember hearing a son crying for a mother
to come to his side to hold his life
in her comforting arms
to ease his weeping
a mother back home
sitting in a window
worrying for her son
her eyes full of tears
her life full of fear
I Remember a man crying for his wfe
a wife standing at the sink
drying the dishes
her heart full of worry and wishes
I Remember the my fear
the thick bile of fear
the solid lump of fear
the hard fist of fear
welling up in my stomach
I tried to fight the fear
but the fear rose …
rose like vomit …
vile, wrenching choking vomit
I Remember moving forward and the ground
churned into a mindless morass
by shells exploding and hurling craters
up and into battlefields
I Remember The unimaginable …
The indescribable …
Hell of The Somme
I Remember My Pal, Harry …
gave a sudden gasp and
stopped dead in his tracks
stopped dead in the battlefield
stopped dead in no-man’s land
I Remember My Pal, Harry, at my side
full of courage
full of determination
full of bravado
Harry … My pal Harry
stopping dead
dropping dead
A bullet had struck Harry
at 700 feet a second
had hit Harry in the chest
Bursting into his body
Stopping him dead in his tracks
I Remember Harry … My pal, Harry
gave a half cry
Harry … My pal, Harry
crumpled and fell
fell dead instantly
Harry … My pal, Harry
no longer at my side
stopping and falling
Slowly through eternity
Harry … My pal, Harry,
We went to school together
We played football together
We grew up together
We chased the girls together
We worked in the same factory together
Harry was my best man
I Remember I stopped …
to help my pal, Harry
there was a shout ‘No stopping … Keep moving’
I walked on … no time to grieve
that would come later
I Remember the whistles ,,, the shouts … the orders …
“… WITHDRAW …” … “… RETURN TO THE TRENCHES …”
I Remember soldiers turning … stumbling back
seeking the safety of the trenches
I Remember seeing soldiers being thrown forward
by the impact of bullets in the back
Men falling forward with a desperate cry
scrambling back into the trench
drenched in emotion
My mind filled
with unthinkable numbing shock
I Remember I stood in the trench
as they brought in the first body
it was lowered gently … carefully
the battledress bloodied with
a growing dark red lifeless stain
Then …
I Remember a second body …
Then another body …
And another
And another …
body after body
I Remember the trench filling with bodies …
too many dead bodies
Dead soldiers
Dead fathers
Dead Sons
Dead Brothers
Dead Pals
I Remember hearing the cries
of the wounded and the dying
being stretchered in
the wounded human wrecks
gaping and torn
I Remember looking along the trench
seeing desperately few soldiers
who had returned from the battle
Soldiers who had marched to the Front
singing their hearts out
“… It’s a long way to
Tipperary,
It’s a long way to go.
It’s a long way to
It’s a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know …”
I Remember boots beating time
arms swinging in their prime
faces full of bravado
voices full-throated
men strong-hearted
I Remember echoes of families on quaysides
singing songs of encouragement
songs of hope and homecoming
“… Goodbye Piccadilly,
Farewell Leicester Square,
It’s a long, long way to Tipperary,
But my heart’s right there …”
I Remember as I stood there
in the tear-shocked quiet
of the trench
not a whisper
not even a the singing of a bird
I Remember I couldn’t find any words
to express my senses
My eyes blighted by the sights
of the battering in the battlefield
The taste of Bitterness
stinging my mouth
that taste of loss
that taste of death
I Remember I only had tears to give
hurting … searing … burning …
ripping … tearing … scarring … blurting
tears
I Remember the feeling of loss
the dreadful … dreadful … dreadful loss
the loss of all reason
the loss of any purpose
the loss of so many Pals
the 1st Newfoundland Regiment
had marched out with 801 men
only 68 had staggered back
leaving 500 dead
the Irish Brigade
was all but wiped out to the man
I Remember the count on that first day of The Somme
The British suffered …
19,240 dead,
35,493 wounded,
2,152 missing
585 taken prisoners
The Allied forces
had only penetrated a total of 6 miles
for a total loss of 57,470 men
20% of the entire British fighting force
had been killed on that day
On that awful … dreadful … day
That first day of July 1916
And
for the rest of time
church bells will chime
Flags will fly at half mast
The Last Post will sound
And at the going down of every sun
We will remember everyone of them
Everyone who fought and died
At the Battle of the Somme
I Remember …
I Remember …
Yes
I Remember