On this day

[DaveA]

With the kind permission from UncleAlbert, let us remember them

In Flanders field so far away
a soldier bowed his head to pray,
a moment spent with god on high
to ask if now he has to die
For Tommy Smith knew much of war
the death the blood the pain the gore.
He’d seen it all, most at first hand
and now he lay in nomansland.
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


On Dunkirk beach and out to sea,
the lines of men wait patiently.
with outstretched hands and full of hope…
Until a stray shell hits the boat.
They carry Tommy to the beach,
the `little ship` now out of reach,
and soon he knows that things aren`t right
as his day slowly turns to night..
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


The North Atlantic late July,
where wolf packs stalk and brave men die.
In mid ocean you can’t be saved
so sailors meet a watery grave.
They cling to wreckage in the night
with convoy gone or out of sight,
how soon will Tommy start to sleep
and slip away into the deep
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


Above the clouds where airmen fight
The bomber droned on through the night
And in the tail the gunner dozed
He`d soon be home, or he supposed ….
The fighter only made one pass
It`s cannon shattered flesh and glass
Now Tommy couldn`t move or shout
the taste of blood was in his mouth
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


The garrison at Singapore
all taken prisoners of war
and put to work in jungles deep
with insects, filth, disease and heat.
Starving, Tommy knew the score
that he was knocking on death`s door
so in the night he crawled away,
that friends might see another day.
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


Sir Galahad was nomansland
full of troops, waiting to land
Then as the bomb struck deep inside
so many had nowhere to hide,
burning decks with no way out
no matter that they scream and shout….
Trapped, Tommy knows that he`s not dead
then see`s he`s lost an arm and leg
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


A checkpoint in Afghanistan
when Tommy bent to see the man,
a loud explosion rent the air
and suddenly the cars not there.
Now Tommy`s lying on the ground
with dead and dying all around,
and as his sight begins to sway,
he hears a siren, far away.
A lonely figure so forlorn
he knew he`d never see the dawn…


The transport from Iraq unloads
It`s coffins neatly row on row,
down on the tarmac in the cold
wait Tommys family young and old,
while further back and out of sight
a young girl cries with all her might,
just a teen, she loved him so,
and pleaded with him not to go.
A lonely figure so forlorn
who knows her dad won`t see the dawn…

…………


In poppy fields so far from home,
a soldier wrote a final poem,
and asked to be remembered should
he not return from Flanders mud,
and could a day be put aside,
to honour men who fought and died.
So now each year we kneel and pray
for comrades on remembrance day…
who died so lonely and forlorn
that we might see a better dawn.