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Norm Duel N Johnno

.....Norm Duel and Johnno of the Second Twenty Fifth.....
Were in Syria in 1941.....
They were surrounded by the French Foreign legion with....
75mm cannon and machine gun ....
Their mortar position was in a hundred gallon pit.....
They'd plonk the Vichy French just a bit....
A wounded calf was still a bellowing, with the shrapnel it was hit....
3 men tried to help it, 3 Aussies died, calf blown to bits....
Charley had his own gun pit and was snug in his private hole...
The 75 shell blew the tree away, but hadn't parted his soul....
4 out of 10 survived to live, on that bitter battered hill....
10 days cannon shell, the shocking hell, the nightmare lingers still!......
shellshock...

1942....In New Guinea green when sudden death was all around ....
Norm Duel fought a Jap Mountain gun, the screaming 75mm round....
It would explode in the treetops & shrapnel sliced your hide ....
Many Aussies caught a bit and some of them they died.....
The Mountain gun was after Norm and his Mortar team just a bit....
So Norm went behind a nearby hill burned the Mountain gun, that's it ....
Unlike the mortar the mountain gun couldn't hit them till.....
Safe behind the hill they plonked away, & then the Gun they'd kill...
As Norm said the Gun couldn't get enough elevation to drop a shell on them,......... Norm
Duel went to Syria and 3 times back to New Guinea...............So for a change the Mortar
had the advantage and won the fight...Don Johnson.....
http://www.scullywag.com/kokoda1942stoush/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZcC5hMeQxA

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Nette Onclaud

Date: 7/15/2011 6:14:00 PM

nice, harsh images that vividly portay the inanity of violence. don... my geart is grilled!:) huggs, nette

Sara Kendrick

Date: 7/15/2011 3:37:00 PM

Interesting information..Thanks for commenting on my work about the Hershey's Siver Bells or Kisses..I went in my grandson's room and he had the candy jar in his room and there were candy chocolate kisses left and there was the Tabasco Sauce next to the candy jar..Just a thought came to me about how he was placing a drop of Tabasco on the chocolate..Sara

Zzzzz Zzzzz

Date: 7/15/2011 2:13:00 PM

A compelling poem, Don. My dad fought in North Africa and then Italy during WWII. He lost some of his buddies along the way...especially at Cassino. He rarely talked about it, but I always felt proud of him. A well-penned piece. Regards, Robert.