In Memoriam

[maggiebee]

In Memoriam

by Ewart Alan Mackintosh (killed in action 21st November 1917 aged 24)

So you were David’s father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting,
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year get stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David’s father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers’,
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed “Don’t leave me, sir”,
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer.

[Ann]

Thanks maggie - a touching poem for Remembrance -
God bless all the families who have lost loved ones x

[DaisyNonna]

Thanks

[askyourgran]

A lovely poem, thank you for that maggie.

[starone]

How poignant, especially as he was also killed in action. I cannot help crying for them when I read poems like this. It is so sad.

[anneasquith]

and still they are being killed today :(

[carrot99]

"Mackintosh was killed in action on the second day of the Battle of Cambrai, 21 November 1917. Cambrai was noteworthy in using new tactics including the first mass use of tanks".

My great-uncle John, aged 22, was killed there on the first day, 20 November 1917. Apparently the tanks were supposed to squash down the barbed wire so the men could get through but the tanks didn't work and the men were left exposed before the wire with nowhere to go. He had already been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Russian Cross (4th Class) before he was killed by a gun-shot wound to the head. He is remembered on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval and by his family in South London.

[maggiebee]

Thanks for the background info, it makes these young men who gave their all "come alive" again.

[boxtops]

Thank you Maggie - that's very poignant today.

[nungate]

Very timely, and appropriate my grandfather lost two of his three brothers in 1916, one in Turkey, the other on the Somme in November. John, who was killed in Turkey has no known grave but his name is on a memorial near where he fell. James was killed a few months after his brother, he had sewn a black button onto his uniform in memory of John, we know where he his buried I hope to go there someday

[firewatch]

god bless and rest well all you soldiers fought and died for the freedom we now enjoyxx

[Jemisa]

Very moving Maggie.
My thoughts and prayers to all those brave men and woman who gave their lives for their country.

jem