Impression sketch
for Notebook Will - by
Jamie.
26 May 1915, in a
small little known
Quarter of the
frontline, about sector
Of the Somme, 800
French soldiers
Held onto a line
of a German trench.
Over two days they
held firm
To the captured
ditch - casualties
Amid their
numbers built - from
Out of 15
officers six were killed.
Another five
officers disabled
'Hors de combat' - as
hours went
On two officers
were standing,
One being
Lieutenant Luquiaud.
Sergeant Poupard
and Lieutenant
Luquiaud were
side by side, about
Them, men under
fire of shrapnel
Shells, resiliently
stood and fought.
Within a moment
the Lieutenant
Was hit, as a
fragment cut his face -
He dropped and
Sergeant Poupard
Aided him to see
the fatal wound.
Shrapnel had
sliced away nearly
All his face, to
leave his eyes and
Forehead - Poupard
acted quickly
Binding a bandage
to severe wound.
The Sergeant
carried him to rear
Of the trench, to
sit with him while
He lay dying - as
the fight raged
On, men came and went
about them.
By pained gesture the
lieutenant
Made it known he
wanted to be able
To write - the
sergeant put a pencil
In his grasp
along with a notebook.
Still to feel the full shock
of the terrible
Wound, Luquiaud
had yet to lose
His breathe, as he
scribbled out his
Thanks to those
who fought with him.
To write his
family name Luquiaud, his
Home Bellevue,
Sommieres - asked to
Tell his parents
he did his duty - when
He started to
struggle with the pencil.
Gasps of throaty
blood, began to stain
His marks, as
Poupard beside him saw
That he wrote, 'I
die content' - with
Witness he turned to last page but one.
His fingers
flexed the pencil lead
'Do not carry me
away' - Luquiaud
Felt the heaving
effort, but still he wrote;
'The Boche
will take the trench.'
Holding onto those last
few seconds
Luquiaud traced
words, to leave
500 francs to his
village and 500
For Sergeant Poupard beside him.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Dying
Officer's Will. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 13 March 1916. P.5. Col.2-3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12189280/Daily-Telegraph-March-13-1916.html
[Accessed: 13 March 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 13 March 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1France
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