New Chums
THE HUNGRY AND THE WORLD’S OPPRESSED, WE WERE THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS
TRAVELLING TO THIS LAND OF HOPE, FROM WARTIME’S TROUBLED WATERS
THE FLAG THAT WAS TO GREET US, TO MANY WAS UNKNOWN
BUT THROUGH OUR PARENTS SWEAT AND TEARS, THAT FLAG BECAME OUR OWN
STRANGERS ON A STRANGER SHORE, WE KNEW WHAT WAS IN STORE
WOGS AND DAGOES, KRAUTS AND BAULTS, THE LABELS THAT WE WORE
YET IN SPITE OF PREJUDICE, OUR SPIRITS DID NOT YIELD
IN CLASSROOMS AND ARENAS, WE EXCELLED IN EVERY FIELD
WE WATCHED THE OLD MEN STRIDING, EACH YEAR IN THEIR PARADE
THEN PLAY SOLDIERS WITH OUR CLASSMATES, IN SOME HARMLESS CHARADE
WE KNEW THE NAMES OF HEROES REVERED IN OUR NEW HOME
WHO PAID THE PRICE OF FREEDOM, WHEN THEY FELL ACROSS THE FOAM
WE FOLLOWED IN THE FOOTSTEPS, OF THOSE WHO’D GONE BEFORE
SELDOM ASKING QUESTIONS, IN SOME FOREIGN WAR
WE ALL STOOD TOGETHER AND FACED THE NATION’S SCORN
STARING DOWN THE INSULTS, BESIDE THE NATIVE BORN
SEVERAL DECADES LATER, OUR CHILDREN SERVED AS WELL
IN DIFFERENT WARS AND CAUSES, TO THE SAME GATES OF HELL
THE ENSIGN ON THE CASKET, CARED NOT FOR PLACE OF BIRTH
WHEN YOU WEAR THE NATION’S UNIFORM, AS YOU LAY BENEATH IT’S EARTH
SO WHEN YOU STOP AND PONDER, OVER NAMES ON MARBLE STONES
TAKE THE TIME TO REALISE, THEY ARE NOT ALL SMITHS AND JONES
FOR THOSE WHO FELL ALONG THE WAY, BY WARTIMES TRAGIC ROAD
FOREVER TO BE REMEMBERED, DURING BINYONS SOMBRE ODE
By Tomas ‘Paddy’ Hamilton
12 September 2019
FILE PHOTO (2017): A RAAF member of the HMAS Adelaide crew walks among the headstones of Bomana Commonwealth War Cemetery, in Papua New Guinea. Photo by Private Roger Brennan.
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