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Longest Day 6 June 1944

I’m just an old man in a blazer
Here to try and tell the truth
About that longest longest day 
That brought an  end to my youth.
No heroic thoughts as
I struggled up the sand
Into the chaos of that 
Foreign and alien land,
Just a sense of confusion,
Panic, mind numbing fear,
A sense of bewilderment
 wondering why am I here.
Somehow it ended, 
I managed to survive
One of the lucky ones
Who left that beach alive.
For years the sleepless nights
The sense of horror in my head
Guilt At still being here when
So many  friends were dead.
So,  many years later and I have 
Treasured every single day
Loved every minute of a life that so
Easily could have been taken away.
Just an old man in a blazer
Here to try and tell the truth 
About that cruel longest day that
Brought an end to my youth.

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Speaks Volumes

March 12, 2024 at 11:49 PM

A moving poem Terry. Brought memories back to me. My Dad never spoke of his time through the war or the things he saw, Until one day when he was 91, began to tell us stories he had kept to himself all those years, horror stories, that shocked us to hear what he had to tell. Dad died of a massive stroke that night.

Terry Ireland

March 13, 2024 at 1:40 AM

That's a moving story Wen. I served with D Day Veterans and knew some in the village. Like you say, they didn't speak much but this poem is a result of all i managed to get from them over the years. I wrote it for the 80th Anniversary and will be reading it at the War Memorial locally.