My Aims and Hopes
On November 5th 1916 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, A.I.F were killed. My Great-grandfather (Thomas Rutherford) was one of them.
I am trying to discover enough evidence of his burial location to have a small memorial erected in France near it. I have discovered he was originally buried in March 1917 along with about 45 to 50 other Australian soldiers near Gueudecourt.
I would also like to discover the families of the other soldiers - so they know what happened as well.
On November 5th 1916 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, A.I.F were killed. My Great-grandfather (Thomas Rutherford) was one of them.
I am trying to discover enough evidence of his burial location to have a small memorial erected in France near it. I have discovered he was originally buried in March 1917 along with about 45 to 50 other Australian soldiers near Gueudecourt.
I would also like to discover the families of the other soldiers - so they know what happened as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following are two poems I wrote while on my journey of trying to locate Thomas' grave in France.
Not Just at a Wall
I came in search of a man I never knew existed,
A man who died without knowing his family,
A son and daughter who died without knowing his story.
I came in search of a man I will never know,
Just a name on a page,
Just a name on a wall,
- yet?
As I stood there standing at the battlefield long gone,
Trying my hardest to see the attempts of the failed attacks,
The ghosts of 90 years ago came to me.
They came with sadness of dreams and hope long lost,
But they smiled with the possible future to come,
Of heartache undone and tears of commemoration
At their graves, not at a wall or at a fading picture.
Their eyes tell me of the hope they have for me,
The hope that I'll give them a final peace,
The hope I'll give it to all their families.
A sadness comes to me of all those families,
Long gone who will never know,
That their father, brother, uncle, grandfather
Had a final burying place,
Not just the air or some field long forgotten.
A place of peace, not just a name on a wall,
And an eternity wondering,
With no place to rest their heads.
A silent promise was made that day,
I will never rest until ...
They can be commemorated at their graves,
And NOT JUST AT A WALL.
A man who died without knowing his family,
A son and daughter who died without knowing his story.
I came in search of a man I will never know,
Just a name on a page,
Just a name on a wall,
- yet?
As I stood there standing at the battlefield long gone,
Trying my hardest to see the attempts of the failed attacks,
The ghosts of 90 years ago came to me.
They came with sadness of dreams and hope long lost,
But they smiled with the possible future to come,
Of heartache undone and tears of commemoration
At their graves, not at a wall or at a fading picture.
Their eyes tell me of the hope they have for me,
The hope that I'll give them a final peace,
The hope I'll give it to all their families.
A sadness comes to me of all those families,
Long gone who will never know,
That their father, brother, uncle, grandfather
Had a final burying place,
Not just the air or some field long forgotten.
A place of peace, not just a name on a wall,
And an eternity wondering,
With no place to rest their heads.
A silent promise was made that day,
I will never rest until ...
They can be commemorated at their graves,
And NOT JUST AT A WALL.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
More than Just at a Wall
Time has pasted since that silent promise,Heartache, hope, tears, tantrums, despair and paperwork have come and gone.
All that is left is a sense of almost complete - almost there,
All that is left are pictures and coordinates on a map.
I can see the silent promise coming true,
I can see the weariness of the long years of wondering coming to an end,
For those long lost soldiers and their families.
They know where we are now - they say -
They shed tears for us now on our graves,
NOT just at a wall.
I came in search of a man I will never know,
Just a name on a page,
Just a face in a picture,
- yet?
He led me down a path I never imagined I would go,
He led me to his long lost family,
He led me to undo things long done,
He led me to a group of soldiers.
I found this group of soldiers,
Who started life so separately,
Who only shared a state they lived in,
Who inturn shared life for just a blink of an eye,
Who now share death for eternity.
I found a group of soldiers,
I found one man,
They all led me to a place I never dreamt I would go,
They led me to one of the greatest gifts ever ...
I now sit and look at my great-grandfather's picture,
- NOT just a face in a picture,
- NOT just a man I will never know,
- NOT just a name on a wall.
That's MY great-grandfather!
No comments:
Post a Comment