Homework 13/8/22 'Courage Above and Beyond'
Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:58 pm
Courage Above and Beyond – The Coastwatchers
‘Guadalcanal saved the Pacific – The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal’
: US Admiral Halsey
In the hushed near silence of a waning moon they’ve slipped ashore,
to a palm fringed Island beach there in the darkest days of war.
As the submarine that brought them dips below the gentle swell,
those on board will say a silent prayer and wish those brave men well.
For this Island swarmed with Japanese - no mercy would be shown,
should the enemy be waiting, and their secret landing known.
But the nearby jungle reaches out to offer shelter there,
as they melt into its darkness - silent as the night they share.
High upon a mountain hillside they have made their secret camp,
hidden by a dripping rainforest, that’s humid hot and damp.
Swarms of angry mozzies come marauding with the fading light,
bringing hours of abject misery, they must endure each night.
They’re surrounded now by rotting swamps and scummed lagoons, or worse,
with the trees alive with leeches, they’re among the things they curse.
Yet they set about their tasks here, in the only way they knew,
in this place awash with pestilence, they had a job to do.
With their radio in place, they watch for shipping far below,
also counting and reporting aircraft as they come and go.
Always ready though to move in minutes, should the need arise,
for they know the Japs are looking now to catch them by surprise.
There is constant danger always and an awful fate awaits,
capture will mean death with torture, and the grisliest of fates.
But this work is so important, it’s a risk that they must take,
for the war is in the balance now, with many lives at stake.
-------
© T E Piggott
‘Guadalcanal saved the Pacific – The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal’
: US Admiral Halsey
In the hushed near silence of a waning moon they’ve slipped ashore,
to a palm fringed Island beach there in the darkest days of war.
As the submarine that brought them dips below the gentle swell,
those on board will say a silent prayer and wish those brave men well.
For this Island swarmed with Japanese - no mercy would be shown,
should the enemy be waiting, and their secret landing known.
But the nearby jungle reaches out to offer shelter there,
as they melt into its darkness - silent as the night they share.
High upon a mountain hillside they have made their secret camp,
hidden by a dripping rainforest, that’s humid hot and damp.
Swarms of angry mozzies come marauding with the fading light,
bringing hours of abject misery, they must endure each night.
They’re surrounded now by rotting swamps and scummed lagoons, or worse,
with the trees alive with leeches, they’re among the things they curse.
Yet they set about their tasks here, in the only way they knew,
in this place awash with pestilence, they had a job to do.
With their radio in place, they watch for shipping far below,
also counting and reporting aircraft as they come and go.
Always ready though to move in minutes, should the need arise,
for they know the Japs are looking now to catch them by surprise.
There is constant danger always and an awful fate awaits,
capture will mean death with torture, and the grisliest of fates.
But this work is so important, it’s a risk that they must take,
for the war is in the balance now, with many lives at stake.
-------
© T E Piggott