Signalman Harry Read

ON RECEIVING GENERAL RICHARD GALE'S BOOK,
With the 6^th Airborne division in Normandy.

ALONE (1)

Just flicking through the pages stirs my heart
And memories move gently through my mind,
Was I not of that mighty force a part?
And did I not with them my manhood find?

I sense again the tension of the flight,
The nonchalance, the jocularity
Concealing fear with death in sight,
The swift unfolding of our destiny.

I felt that almost fatalistic thrill
As we prepared to exit from the plane,
The coolness caused by fear's compulsive chill,
The question: 'Would I see my home again?'

The jump - the slipstream - now this war I own,
The shooting - landing - vigilance - alone.

ALONE (2)

ALONE and wet - so soon to be half-drowned -
This was the land the Germans chose to flood,
And in those trenches dug deep in the ground
I struggled through the water, weeds and mud.

Around, small battles more intensive grew,
Above, more aircraft followed on our path,
In lazy arcs the tracer bullets flew,
Beyond, planes earthward plunged in fiery wrath.

I waded on and, on some higher ground,
Met up with Paddy, also from my stick*.
Quite clearly, nothing seemed to be as planned,
Was fortune, good or bad, about to play a trick?

If safety and success in numbers lay,
We had no choice but try another way.

* Stick, the name given to group exiting the same aircraft.

TWO OF US

I learned that Paddy came from Galway Bay,
Now, every time I hear that haunting tune
My mind slips gears and back I go t'D Day,
And all the hazards of the 6^th of June.

Although the battle noises were intense,
Our stretch of water seemed to generate
An air of unreality - a sense
That we were not quite part of war's estate.

And yet, we knew our lives were still at stake,
We still could drown, be killed by sniper's fire,
In ambush die, or unwise pathway take:
This separation was not our desire.

We would have been encouraged much to know
Our feet had found the safest way to go.