Remember

Jan Millward shares with us a poignant tribute for the courage and sacrifice of so many, 100 years ago in the trenches across France.

Remember

One hundred years ago today in trenches across France
A hundred thousand soldiers who never stood a chance.
They signed up for their country, they joined up for their King,
but they would be the sacrifice, death would have it’s sting.

The khaki cladded army, some were only just sixteen,
they didn’t see it coming, the carnage was unseen.
And then that fateful morning with a whistle loud and shrill,
they poured out of the trenches, they went out there to kill.

And as the clouds were lifting on the first day of July,
nineteen thousand soldiers were destined there to die.
They ran into machine guns, mown down into the mud,
Their brave young faces silent, covered now in blood.

Each one of the white gravestones hides a gallant heart
too many lives were wasted, too many torn apart.
And so we must remember the war to end all wars
the flowers of a nation, what were they fighting for.

They gave their lives in battle, they wanted to be free
so many lie there buried in fields across the sea.
A hundred years have passed now, no one is left to tell
and we must still remember that for us they went through hell.

So when you eat your cornflakes and face the bright new day
just pause for a few minutes and think of them and pray.
For us they gave their future, so many brave young men.
We see the faded photo’s, we won’t see their like again.

Jan Millward©