Long Gunner Poems

The Things Never Said
The terror…
The only things ever said about my daddy’s WWII service were that he’d been to New Guinea where he’d ridden on a truck full of soldiers by a river without a...

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I volunteered for service in the RAF in early 1942,
When I’d just become 18 and got three shillings a day;
I became a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner right through,
And was then sent home to await training, the...

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I am Flight Sgt Ramsay Roe, and my memories have faded,  
Of my experiences in Burma, and their chronological order, 
But into my memory’s deep recesses i have dug and waded, 
Although the exact...

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The klaxon sounds and off we do scurry
Up to the gun house we head in a hurry

Through narrow p-ways and up noisy stairs
We pass each other with far away glares

What threat to meet, all do...

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If you approach anyone
Remember always
There is seven metres
To be safe 
From a blade

He was a violent offender 
Who beat his girlfriend often
And he broke the law 
Acts his community would always defend

He caused the Medical...

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I sit here 
In a place where I have no fear 
Will there be another score? 
Does the crowd want more? 
Chelsea is on top 
While Arsenal should not want to stop 
The cheery contingent...

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More than two years it be since me old dad had to fly. I miss him you know, he was 
my best friend. I miss the twinkle in his Scottish,Irish,American eyes, a kind and 
caring...

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Your innocence has blinded you from the real world makin any sense, 
what's that? Say your done with it..?
Na you ain't done with this 
were not even to the second quarter ya idiot, 
you see...

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There is a calming sense 
When flipping a jaded pence 
A bit coin motion 
Needing a peaceful mind potion 
A pound here 
And a beer 
Does appear 
From the dear 
Working the bar 
Remembering a...

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Pop was quite a poet,
though his bio wouldn’t show it,
with the exception of this little poem
which I really do feel I owe him.

He was happiest working in the wood,
and did so when ere he could.
That...

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The mission had been a close run thing
The Japanese had thrown up quite a sting
They had sent up their fighter planes
And the anti-aircraft fire like leaden rain

The other aircraft in Bombing Six
Had been carved up...

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Sunderland N for Nuts 461 Squadron
Sunderland fought alone the Battle Of Biscay in.1943
Big old seaplane Sunderland, fought in the Battle Of Biscay
Had 4 engines, would she float, would German cannon make her pay?
Aussies put in...

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Rubbing boys shoulders with sunburn oil. The sun smiles at the pain, the brush of fingers against raw flesh. But like a war wound, those boys be proud. Offer them a salve and they scoff,...

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Our Soldier Son

   2007

      
We sat together in the front row
At airport gate number five
(his father and I),
Watching as he paced
Toward the exiting corridor.
Then at the opening of...

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Left And Right

Either side the cannons roar
Took of blood and wanted more
Salvo after salvo into the valley
Point blank range to deter the rally

Water poured over steaming muzzles
Russian gunner at this sight puzzles
Tis madness against this...

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Under The Cover.
.
You can never ever
Tell a book by it’s cover
As I was later to discover
The Lady in the Nursing home
The old man across the way
All have a story to tell
Hidden away
.
Some people I’ve known...

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RECONNAISSANCE PATROL
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


Scheduled for patrol tonight, damn I got the point
We must secure at least one exiting point
I hate night patrols, transiting from cover to debouch
I might be leading my buddies straight into an...

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I didn’t want to join as a pilot, and could wait till next Monday, 
To become a rear gunner, but I choose to be a wireless operator, 
By waiting another three months. There were 30...

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They won’t stop
I mean my friends
May be, we won’t stop
Think that is better

But for my Gunner friend
Charming light-complexioned
Fine boy, we all know
A smooth talking orator 
An Engineer with a rare wisdom
With a posh car to...

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I Know I got what it takes to be the king
All the hardship, went from shiny to tarnished but still I’m me
Never flip flop’n call me offensive Cochran I can score wit D.
I soar to...

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WHEN WILL MURDEROUS SPREES END???

An unprovoked angry, bloody,
     and deadly war zone
     on an unprovoked whim
dispassionately, indiscriminately,
     and nonchalantly killing twelve
  ...

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Foxes being really cute 
Invaded London not expecting anyone to shoot 
Playing around 
On the Emiratis ground 
Not hearing a hunter’s horn sound 
Until one gunner left off a shell 
And a war story for...

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This is the crews final flight, their twenty-fifth mission.
"Lord", they pray, "deliver us one last time from this perdition!"
Thank You for Your guiding hand upon the yoke thus far.
We ask for Your protection, nothing this...

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We flew out from Kirmington, Germany bound
To bomb Frankfurt, and the area around
One of a thousand planes that took to the air
Mine was a Wellington, assembled with care

I was a Flight Sergeant on the old...

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Off to the sea in ships we all go,
Untested, but cock sure, as iron to a forge

Deck apes, snipes and gunners are we,
Salt spray, steam and gun smoke to deal

Up early and turning to ‘til...

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