Monday, 2 November 2015

Poem ~ Soldier Shot in Glasgow - Tuesday, 2 November 1915


Source: File: 20th Century view of trams on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street. jpeg, [online] Available at: <https://tramsstophere.wordpress.com/page/2/> Accessed: 2 November 2015].

Within the British military war machine,
Movements of soldiers never ceased -
Transports of boats, motorcars, trains
Took men to the front and home leave.

Amid pedestrians on a Glasgow street
Soldiers made a way home - one man
Having been wounded within a battle
About Ypres, was then taken prisoner.

In an act of exchanged he was amid
British prisoners to become released -
Another travelling soldier reached home
Of Glasgow; to see his dying child.

After a hurried departure from the font
He carried gun and equipment home.
In stages of their journey, the two men
Stepped on a tram with consequences.

The wounded soldier climbed aboard,
And for some reason - a knock or jolt -
Set off the other soldier's rifle. A bullet
Hit the wounded man to cause his death.

A jury heard how the tragedy unfolded -
That the soldier had neglected to check
His rifle on departing the front - a result
Followed; a new regulation was needed.

All soldiers on leave were to have rifles
Further checked by superior officers -
The jury sheriff relayed the incident was
Tragic - in a return of accidental death.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Soldier Shot in Glasgow. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 November. P.6. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963611/Daily-Telegraph-November-2-1915.html [Accessed: 2 November 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 2 November 2015). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Glasgow

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