Monday, 19 October 2015

Poem ~ Boy Jack - Tuesday, 19 October 1915



Source: File: Second Lieutenant John Kipling.jpeg [online] see an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kipling> [19 October 2015].

Son of a writer Rudyard Kipling,
John Kipling a Lieutenant
In 2nd Battalion Irish Guards,
Was on 19 October 1915
Reported as 'wounded and missing';
The only son of Rudyard Kipling.

Kipling senior, a keen imperialist
And patriotic figure sought
To help his son's military ambition,
To achieve a commission -
But John was rejected by army
And navy over his poor eyesight.

Yet connections for Rudyard
Included the commander
Of the British army and
Colonel of the Irish Guards,
Earl Frederick Roberts Ist Earl,
Who secured him a commission.

Having turned seventeen
In August 1914, Second
Lieutenant Kipling spent
Twelve months training,
To arrive in France on first years
Anniversary of war, August 1915.

Above the averages of
Other ranks, junior officers
Were in high casualty rates;
To last roughly six weeks -
Then likely to become a graded
Casualty statistic on a battlefield.

Taking part in the major
Battle of Loos, Lieutenant
Kipling became involved -
Then aged 18 in his first
Real campaign to join the fight
In a diversity tactic on the front.

With a month gone, news
Published John Kipling
As missing in action - fighting
Carried on, as an unidentified
Body not immediately recognised
Was Kipling - his face destroyed.

The result of a shell blast -
Such was a loss of an only
Son, would then hit hard the
Father - never to recover
In any real sense, always to grieve
His personal loss of 'my boy Jack'.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Mr Rudyard Kipling's Son. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 19 October. P.6. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11928883/Daily-Telegraph-October-19-1915.html [Accessed: 19 October 2015].

Source: File: John Kipling From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/John_Kipling> [Accessed: 19 October 2015]

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 19 October 2015). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1France

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