I was privileged to be a part of the recent History department trip to the WW1 battlefields of Flanders and the Somme. The picture opposite features the grave of V J Strudwick, the youngest soldier to be killed in the Great War at just 15 years of age.
Of course the War inspired some of the most famous and enduring poetry ever written. I have included here an emotive poem created by Year 11 student Dan Stamp, inspired by his experiences on the trip
A Poem of Commemoration
Exploding shrapnel, flying dirt
Perishing the wounded and the hurt
Mines crackle, barbed wires hold
Artillery explosions for the Earth to mould.
Silence greets the thumping man’s heartbeat
Quietness plagues upon the violent heat
July 1st men hold weapons and pray
Ready to cross the morbid land so decayed.
Quickly set in place snipers and every gun
An attack that so imminent has just begun
A leap over the high trench wall
A glimpse of Tommy advancing tall.
Sudden clench, monster released
Swiping human lives, the devils beast
Ten by ten, thousand by thousand
Drop down dead upon No Man’s Land.
Barbwire attacks all those who flee
Soldiers gunning down those past the Danger Tree
Death rich upon those soldiers of the Somme
The Jerries merciless attack against our Tom.
The Great War to end all wars
Deep wounds and heavy scars
Still defending are those with Nationalism and Pride
Holds morale so they do not hide.
Flanders, Ypres and Passchendaele
All those souls who will never fail
For we thank you and will not forget
Always in our hearts, always in your debt.
Now in Europe, Commonwealth and Britain
Never shall we allow you to be forgotten
Every year on the 11th Month of the 11th Day
Two minutes silence with our poppies we pray.
Great Britain, Canada and Turkey
New Zealand, Commonwealth and Austro-Hungary
Was old enemy now a redeemed ally
Do we forgive the nation of Germany.
Millions of lives taken away
Ninety two years later we continue to pray
A single remembrance, a global slogan
The proud red poppy of those not forgotten.
Every soldier who fought in the War
Although lost, forgotten no more
As we should now say the least
That God bless you and rest in peace
