Welcoming back the troops
 

This was written by poet and ex RAF man Peter Wyton the author of The Unkindest Defence Cut Of All [Last Man Left in the Airforce] and posted by his manager.

UNMENTIONED IN DISPATCHES


Some of them never come home to fanfares,
they dump their kit-bags down at the door,
kiss their wives and let their children
wrestle them down to the kitchen floor,
switch the telly on, pour out a whiskey,
search for the local football score.

Some of them skip the quayside welcome,
dodge the bunting and cannonade,
make their landfall in silent harbours,
nod to the coastguard, but evade
the searchlight of public scrutiny
like those engaged in the smuggling trade.

Some of them land at lonely airfields
far removed from the celebration,
hang their flying gear in a locker,
cadge a lift to the railway station,
make for home and take for granted
the short-lived thanks of a grateful nation.

Some of them miss the royal salute,
the victory parade along the Mall,
the fly-past, the ships in formation passing
the cheering crowds on the harbour wall.
Remembered only by friends and relatives,
some of them never come home at all.

© Peter Wyton

Thanks Linda. That's fantastic. I hesitate to demonstrate my ignorance (well, no more than usual) - but has it had any wider publicity? It deserves to be much more widely seen.

airsound