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I knew a simple soldier boy…..
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
And no one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon
Written while he was still serving in the trenches on the Western Front of the First World War, Sasson’s poem serves as a timely reminder that many troops, both then, during the Second World War, and now are young men (and women) who make the ultimate sacrifice for both the security and liberty of not just ourselves, but others too.
War is not pretty or glamourous or fun. It’s a horrid, dangerous, necessary evil and we must support our troops and veterans, and remember those who laid down there lives no matter what our views of the conflict they fought in because the vast majority of us will probably never comprehend what they have gone through, nor be able to summon the bravery it takes
