Friday, November 23, 2012

My Old Man served in the 14th Army in Burma during World War II. We never got on, though we managed a truce during his last, invalid, years.
He was no militarist, but he retained a spirit of comradeship with his fellow conscripts of "the Forgotten Army". At his funeral his coffin was carried by Burma campaign veterans and was draped with the banner of the Burma Star Association.
So here's one for the old sweats of the 14th Army, the quick and the dead.

14th ARMY
(Steven Bracher)

Men say the echoes the gun-fire woke
Round Palu peaks and Pegu sleep once more
And by the weary Irrawaddy shore
Only the fisherman sends up his smoke,
Far-seen and lonely on the silent stream
Where death was once the substance, life the dream.

The stir and rumour of ten thousand men
Moved in those forests once, and shook the leaves, Sudden and secret, as the hot wind breathes
Tossing the jungle, and is still again.
Silence has taken all, the runways fade,
The jungle marches where our camps were made.

_ _ _

Beneath the monsoon cloud-wrack and the rain
The steaming valleys of the Kabaw sleep,
And all the jungles of the Chindwin keep
Their savage silence rendered back again.

11 comments:

Fleming said...

You never got on with your war hero father? Shocking.....not. The old man could surely sniff an ungrateful, petulant, ingrate punk from a mile away. Even if it was his own son. How sad for him to be cursed with such indolence and treachery, within his family no less, despite selfless heroism and sacrifice by him.

Says a great deal about you Jemmy. A great deal indeed.

Jemmy Hope said...

You're directing your chicken-hawk bullshit at an ex-regular soldier who saw active service and has a decoration to prove it. How much soldiering have you done, cockroach?

thankgodimatheist said...

Jemmy
If the blatte was capable of more than frothing and foaming at the mouth cursing on some others' blogs he loathes he would have had his own blog already. A schoolyard bully of the most cowardly kind if I ever saw one and I've seen many. Vomit.

Jemmy Hope said...

I'm thinking of putting the cokroach back in the bottle, tg, but I can't resist letting him show his true colours, spewing out hate and racist crap. It's when he gets on to his boring randroid sermonettes that I'm forced to switch him off before I die of ennui. So repetitive.

Jemmy Hope said...

Question: what do you get if you cross a chicken-hawk with a cockroach? Why, a fleming of course.

Jemmy Hope said...

What's the matter, don't you approve of bigoted stereotyping? To quote a notorious troll, "hahahahahaha".
If you don't know the word epigone, look it up.
All that procreating to culminate in a hominid that skulks around other people's work spouting racist bollocks, advocating the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable, and expressing approval of war crimes. Julius Streicher lives on in you.
Have you ever managed to impress anyone with that hard man pose? In England it's greeted with laughter and a lot of piss-taking.

Jemmy Hope said...

Just thinking, hard man - a 74 year-old chronic invalid with arthritic joints; do you think you can take me down? Tough odds, but you can take your inspiration from those brave warriors who invaded Grenada and defeated the mighty Grenadian army. Grenada did have an army, didn't it?

Fleming said...

I enjoy pointing out your hypocracy. Such as when you stereotype me. But of course, that's ok in today's world. Ima white man - the most reviled demographic. By those who don't know better and choose what's deemed politically correct, without real thought, anyway. I find the Self haters are especially loathesome.

I dont care your physical status. A punk is a punk. I might show mercy, and I might not.

Think Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, Hurtgen Forrest, Normandy, Khe Son, Tet, Midway, Bealleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Battle of Bull Run, etc. Is that still your contention? That USA armed forces are made up of bullies and wimps? If so, then you know nothing and hide behind your frailty.

I advocate what makes the world best for the most people. I don't think the lazy, the degenerate, the parasites, the abusers of others goodwill, should be coddled. You apparently do. Or that only the successful are degenerate, and worthy of scorn. What backwardass obtuse logic gets you there I have no idea.

I applaud winning. In war there is only the winner who determines the criminals. It's why its so important we maintain our military might. Maybe youd rather the Chinese held the reigns of power? The Russians? North Korea? The mullahs of Iran, or pakistan? These your idea of a better world? If so, then again, you know nothing,




Jemmy Hope said...

... No Gun Ri, My Lai; or Hurtgen Forest, Mogadishu. Do you get an erection when you read all that military cobblers, hardcase?
"I'm a white man, I'm oppressed" whine, whine. Give us a break, for Jasus' sake!
Anyway, this exchange is closed. Peddle your lunatic ideas elsewhere. The cockroach can scuttle out of the building.

Jemmy Hope said...

A troll writes-
Oh dear! I appear to have deleted it.

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