An Old Soldier Died Today.

[Mike Lloyd]

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 once 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 buddies listened quietly for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer, for ol' Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer for a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many, just his children and his wife..
For he lived an ordinary very quiet sort of life.
He had worked and raised his family, just going softly on his way;
And the world won't heed his passing, tho' "a Soldier died today".

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
while thousands note their passing, (some proclaim that they were great).
Papers tell of their 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,
Some jerk who breaks his promise 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?

The politician's stipend and the style in which he lives,
Are very 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 is so many times
that our Bobs and Jims and Tommies went to battle, but we know,
It was not the politicians with their lies & cheating ploys,
Who won for us those freedoms that our country once enjoyed.

He was just a common Soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his abscence should remind us that we need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict our Soldier's play their part
In cleaning up the troubles that the politicians start.

As you find yourself in danger with foes throughout your land,
do you really want some cop-out, with ever grasping hand
Some sleazy crooked bastard who thinks he is so grand?
Or would you want a Soldier with his honour shining through
to fight for home & country for that is what they do!
Just a common Soldier, who’d fight & die for you?

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 the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING for A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

[RHINO]

my dad would have liked to have read that

[Catweazle]

Heres something we arranged for an old sailor.BILL.
He had only the week before lost his wife after nursing her for five years.
We were taking him to Chatham at easter but he has fallen ill so we wish him well he is 88.He was in small ships MTBs etc .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC4m7lmMIAw

[Renegade]

That is a touching poem mike. My favorite is called the soldier by rupert brooke. Very similar feel to it.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Renegade

That is a touching poem mike. My favorite is called the soldier by rupert brooke. Very similar feel to it.

Yes it is. It has the feel of Kipling about it as well (Tommy this and Tommy that etc) and the rythme is the same but there is a touch of the modern in there as well so whoever did this is very clever.

[Ciao]

Ex soldier currently in the third year of an English and Creative Writing degree course in Liverpool.
He was in the army for just under seven years, leaving in early 2006 & completed two tours of Iraq, totalling one year over there. Most of his poems are based around experiences during his second tour (TELIC 6 in 2005), when serving as team signaller on a Tactical Air Control Party, mainly based around Maysaan province.

Here is one of his poems.


My thanks to Hollywood
When you showed me John Rambo
Stitching up his arm with no anaesthetic
And giving them “a war they won’t believe”
I knew then my calling, the job for me
Thanks also to the recruitment adverts
For showing me soldiers whizzing around on skis
And for sending sergeants to our school
To tell us of the laughs, the great food, the pay
The camaraderie
I am, dear taxpayer, forever in your debt
You paid for my all-inclusive pilgrimage
One year basking in the Garden of Eden
(I haven’t quite left yet)
Thanks to Mum and thanks to Dad
**** it,
Thanks to every parent
Flushing with pride for their brave young lads
Buying young siblings toy guns and toy tanks
Waiting at the airport
Waving their flags
Thud!
Day One, Thud!
My first attack; a mortar
I put on my lid and jacket (to protect from flak)
And crawled under my bed
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Thud Thud Thud
Day Thirty, Thud!
Helmets are sweaty
Body armour ruins the tan
So I stretched out, relaxed
Turned up my ipod
Day Forty, Thud Thud Thud
This time a drum
Beating the slow-marched steps
Of coffin bearers
Day Forty One, Thud!
I should really sweep under this bed

[Mike Lloyd]

Ahh, you Googled the poem and found him, excellent. Thanks John.
ML.
.

[big_johnny]

Originally Posted by Renegade

That is a touching poem mike. My favorite is called the soldier by rupert brooke. Very similar feel to it.

Studied it at school its a nice poem...

[big_johnny]

any body read "Dulce est decorum est" ????

[Renegade]

Rupert Brooke
The Soldier
IF I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

[Catweazle]

Originally Posted by Catweazle

Heres something we arranged for an old sailor.BILL.
He had only the week before lost his wife after nursing her for five years.
We were taking him to Chatham at easter but he has fallen ill so we wish him well he is 88.He was in small ships MTBs etc .

Maybe we should of written a poem for him.
Strange things forums.heres a real hero still alive ,still working.talking about his exploits to young people educating them in the real horrors and futility of war.293 views 10 have looked at the video not one comment. cw.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Catweazle

Maybe we should of written a poem for him.
Strange things forums.heres a real hero still alive ,still working.talking about his exploits to young people educating them in the real horrors and futility of war.293 views 10 have looked at the video not one comment. cw.

You are right of course, Bill is a true hero, unlike some of the so called "heroes" we read about on the back pages of the Sun & Mirror etc!

And he is still working at 88? OMG!!
ML.
.

[Renegade]

It seems apt to bring this thread back for today, hope you don't mind Mike L, i was on the film boat out side the parliament today for bbc news and it made me feel so proud to see the wreath of poppies on the water. Now i'm fuming about the rag heads shouting in the 2 min silence. They know the way to the benefit office but not the airport. Amazing aint it! God bless the fallen.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Renegade

It seems apt to bring this thread back for today, hope you don't mind Mike L, i was on the film boat out side the parliament today for bbc news and it made me feel so proud to see the wreath of poppies on the water. Now i'm fuming about the rag heads shouting in the 2 min silence. They know the way to the benefit office but not the airport. Amazing aint it! God bless the fallen.

I don't mind at all - good to read it again. Thanks.
ML.
.

[Catweazle]

Originally Posted by Mike Lloyd

You are right of course, Bill is a true hero, unlike some of the so called "heroes" we read about on the back pages of the Sun & Mirror etc!

And he is still working at 88? OMG!!
ML.
.

THE REAR ADMIRAL ISNT FAR BEHIND HIM.
We picked him up in the Austin champ rapped him in a sleeping bag with a hot water bottle to take him to the cermony,he wouldnt have it any other way.
Today is there day so we could have tomorrow.God bless them.

[stean]

I came across this the after reading the posts on here, and thought some of you may appreciate it.

Freedom's Horror

James Clark, is a Trooper of the Household Cavalry. He sends this note. “I wrote this a month after the death of my friend Cpl Johnathan "Woody" Woodgate, when I encountered some protesters shouting abuse outside an Army recruitment office. One of the protesters couldn't speak English and I was moved by both anger and sorrow to write this, and I wish every one of those protestors would read it.”

Fate again bows its ugly young head,
as two more pine coffins carry two more brave dead,
two union jacks and the streets neatly lined,
two more proud mothers, their grief intertwined.
One was from England the other a Scot,
they both died for each other whether you knew it or not.
Well why did they go there, for the glory? The tan?
Or to protect the defenceless and to come back a man.
The uniform they wore, like a statement of our time.
It says they were different, perhaps two of a kind?
Nah just young lads in the Army, there are plenty around,
but these two now heroes, for they rest in the ground.
The same ground which you walk on when you shout and you scream,
about murder and invasion in the pay of the Queen.
Well let me just ask you, as you stand and you shout,
what freedom of speech, is really about?
When a woman is hanged, for humming a song,
when an infant is beaten for crying so long.
Does it make us lads evil for ending these crimes?
For leaving our own children to give those people our time?
When an Islamist shouts about the Infidel,
he knows he’s no true Muslim and Allah knows this as well.
To beat on your women, to rape young boys after tea,
are no things that any almighty can wish to be.
For a middle class student, from here or a foreign state,
to call a working class soldier scum, makes me more than irate.
Your own rights of freedom are paid by us scum,
who stand up against evil, in front of hells guns.
We’ve seen many things that would bring you to tears
whilst some of us have only been alive eighteen years.
So next time you start, with your rights to rant,
try and study our eyes, and I’ll bet that you can’t.
Behind them lie horrors that you’ll never see,
and the reason you won’t is the soldier like me.

James T Clark
2010

[Renegade]

That really is Great, very nice poem in deed.
Paul

[Mike Lloyd]

My Gt Grandfather, both of my Grandfathers, my Father, my four Uncles and my Brother, all who served their country in the Armed Forces, will have loved to have read that.
ML.
.

[larby]

Yep, that really is touching, very moving.

James

[cfun]

Yes very touching poems ... yesterday I was still seething from the news of the 7 mainly non British born detainees getting such huge taxpayer payouts, Labour were in charge, if moneys are to be paid let Labour pay them out and not the broken taxpayer