A flurry of bullets flew over my head
Mates all around me in the mud fell dead
The ground had turned a sickly blood-stained red
In my mind a voice said
Give up, go home, desert
Or you’ll end up face down in the dirt
You could could run away and never be killed
Go home to your family I’m sure they will be thrilled
So I turned and ran
I was no longer a man
Leaving my friends
To the mercy of what God sends
I passed the trees, a blurr of Green
Deep down hoping my Sergeant hadn’t seen
My weak actions, unworthy of honour
Then I heard the shout of Donald McConer
For help he continously cried
But in the bushes I did see him hide
To my left two Jerries advanced
But McConer came still and layed in a trance
His fate was near certain
But then from the bushes came McCurtin
“You take the left, I’ll take the right
McConer wont die without a fight”
So I took the left and he took the right
We gave those Jerries quite the fright
McConer shouted, “Help me I’m hurtin’”
But to my left went down McCurtin
I scrambled for my gun and shot
And left the two Jerries in the ditch to rot
I grabbed McConer by the arm
And led him through the woods away from harm
He had been shot
Both arms, shoulders the lot
I picked him up and forward I charged
Then down the river I saw a barge
Out came an old man
And from the barge he ran
Friend, he said in a thick French accent
I thought of McCurtin, how to heaven he went
He helped us into his boat
And gave McConer a warm trench coat
Down the river we went
But all I could think of was my family back in Kent
We arrived in Amiens a town built on the river
McConer’s life was as delicate as a feather
I look back on the day and
my friends that still in the fields lay
The Somme was my nightmare
My turning point of warfare
So back to kent I went,
Tired, bloody and spent