The Wreath laid by the Royal British Legion at the Service of Thanksgiving to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Ending of the Second World War"

Hawkesbury Garden, Mill Lane, Buckley

10 July 2005

Dennis H. B. Millward's THE REUNION

He was a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery.

The poem was published in the Burma Star Journal c.1974

THE REUNION

We came down to London by coach, car and train.

The Burma reunion is on once again.

Twelve months have gone by since the last time we met

In the Great Albert Hall to remember, and yet,

There are some who were with us in April last year

Who are not with us now, or their loved ones so dear.

They have gone on ahead to prepare us a place

Where all men are comrades whatever their race.

Some there will be meeting pals once again.

We left them there, silent, on the grim Imphal plain.

Down the road from Kohima where hard battles were won

By the brave men from Britain, with bayonet and gun.

Some gave their lives in the green Arakan,

They never gave in to the beasts from Japan.

Some were left there by the Nyakydauk Pass

In a spot cleared of jungle, not covered in grass.

Furness and Bushell, these names I recall.

They died not by bullets, but by bombs that did fall

From Nippons small planes, coming in from the sun

And out again, low, missed by our Bofor Gun.

We lowered them gently, not encased in wood,

But wrapped in a blanket, two brave men and good.

They fought and they died, but it wasn't in vain,

Supreme was their sacrifice, honoured their name.

The years have gone by, now we sit and recall

Comrades like this, in the Great Albert Hall.

The Kohima Epitaph is spoken with care,

Reverence too, because we were there.

The Spirit of Comradeship, nurtured in war,

Reveals itself now as never before;

The smile that says "welcome", the shake of the hand

May baffle a stranger, but we understand,

For there's a bond that still binds us, great ones and small;

At our twenty-eight Reunion in the Great Albert Hall.

Author: Millward, Dennis