Poem ~ Flying Blind From Hun - Monday, 8 March 1915

Impression of 'Flying Blind from the Hun' by Jamie

When the Flanders fight was at its height,

The use of aircraft played an importance

In reconnaissance of the ground enemy.

In undertaking orders two flyers took

To the air - the pilot in rank of sergeant

Was to fly the craft, along with a lieutenant

To act as the observer, for their mission.

The order was to locate an enemy battery -

A cleverly hidden German gun whose fire

Had been proving a nuisance to allies.

Within a few short miles they flew above

German lines - their presence attracted

A perfect storm - as shellfire shook

The air, the pilot banked higher towards

Their target village - the observer gave

Exclamation of spotting 'the devils' -

In advising their mission was completed,

The Lieutenant gave the sergeant orders

To turn about - under a sergeant's hands

The craft manoeuvred - turned again into

A rain of gunfire, pummelling all about

Them. Within 500 air yards the blast

Of smoke smothered their course.

In the density that cut down his visibility

He gripped the control to take them

Above the popping - one accurate hit

Burst above their heads with a deadly

Crash - the sergeant said how he felt

Like his head had burst, to envelope

Him in sickness, as a of fog shut out

All of the light - against the pain

He used his sense to maintain a height

To dodge the shells that were less and

Less - but still the fog hung all about.

The sergeant called to the Lieutenant

Asking if he was okay  - yet no reply

Came - calling again, as he may not

Have heard, the sergeant clenched

And opened his eyes on instant night.

At 6000 feet above ground, he felt

Alone and fear closed on him - below

Sounds of the guns popped and spat -

And in prayer he offered up his soul

Then his mission  - to return and tell

Those on the ground, of what they

Had found - in darkness he directed

What he felt to be the right direction.

Despite a lack of light, his determination

Kept a steady course for two minutes

In silence - when the Lieutenant's

Voice called out to him in urgency -

'Pull up pull up! In quick reaction 

The Sergeant acted, grazing what

Was a church steeple to break off

A weather vane in close destruction.

Their shouted conversation revealed

Their conditions the lieutenant said

How he was severely wounded the

Pilot confessed he was quite blinded.

With one set of hands and one set

Of eyes, the dying Lieutenant told

Him the direction to fly, back to their

Lines - to the left and straight ahead.

The craft in a blind man's hands

Dipped back over the enemy lines,

Bullets prompting them to turn -

The observer, sinking in his seat,

Confirmed the place below them,

Where their men were waiting

The weakening eyes informed the

Hands to 'shut off the spark' - now

'Volplane gently down' - after which

Silence, as the sergeant directed

Them down in a blackened spiral.

Finally the wheels grated onto

Ground - the craft at rest, those

On the ground came over to look

At the 'handsome strong pilot,'

Who could not see the slumped

Body of the man who had breathed

His last - the pale sergeant turned

To them and by gesture of resignation

He told them 'I can not do it again.'

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. War in the Air  - Blinded Pilot and Dying Lieutenant. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 Mar. P.10. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447736/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1915.html [Accessed: 8 March 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 8 March 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447736/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Friends Reunited at Front - Thursday, 4 March 1915

Source: File: Prince.jpg, 2015. Dogged determination. World War One Great war Stories, Luton's Great War, told by its people today Submitted by Deejaya on 14 August 2014. 2 March 1915. [online] Available at: <http://www.worldwar1luton.com/blog-entry/dogged-determination> [Accessed: 4 March 2015].

i

Since the earliest months of conflict

And movements of enemy and allied

Forces that weaved through Belgium

And France, people fled their homes

In villages and towns often destroyed

Burnt to the ground –

Through such deserted places as these

English soldiers found other abandoned

Refugees – dogs of those gone or dead

Who then attached themselves to these

English troopers.

With displacement of animal's homes,

A refuge was created near Boulogne -

On the road to Wimereaux - whereby

Pets, dogs or other animals, found by

Soldiers would be looked after - until

They reclaimed by the human owners -

Their missing friends.

ii

One such story of dog and human friend

Could be recalled from the earliest days

Of an opening war starting August 1914.

A dedication and affection between man

And his closest friend to be recounted

In the month of March 1915.

In that late summer month James Brown

From his home in Hammersmith, London

Said goodbye to both his wife and Prince -

Their Irish Terrier. Private Brown called

To serve With the King's army in France

A horseman in the 1^st North Staffordshire's

Some time passed and Prince pined for

James’ Company – when on September

27^th his wife then noticed Prince had

Gone missing, she looked about - sadly

Unable to find him anywhere, she became

Afraid to write to her husband to explain.

iii

Two more months passed when a letter

Came for Mrs Brown from Mr Brown both

Solving and creating a mystery. Previously

Confessing that Prince was missing, a reply

Of her husband said he was sorry Prince

Not being found there, but that their terrier

Was now with him, stationed at the front line.

The story of Prince being found, had began

At Armentieres - Private Brown had returned

From a patrol and on that day as he rode

Back with other riders, amid the men was one

Standing with a dog, who walked toward him,

At first thinking the dog was very like his own

Irish Terrier, James Brown saw the man grin

To say, ‘I believe that this chap may be yours.’

In dismount James could still not believe his

Eyes until he knelt to say his name, ‘Prince?’

Who then greatly made a fuss of him.

With man and dog united as the fellow gave

Explanation how the Irish Terrier had travelled

Over to France, journeying with other troops.

Mr Brown's words to Mrs Brown explained his

Wonder; ‘Just fancy His coming and finding me.'

He added Prince, 'is quite settled Down with me.’

Then how her husband had found some old

Great coats, which he had used to make Prince

A coat to keep warm and how his faithful terrier

Was then adopted by the regiment as their pet.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. The Soldiers Dog. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 Mar. p.8. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447670/Daily-Telegraph-March-4-1915.html [Accessed: 4 March  2015].

Source.,1915. The Dogged Determination Great War Stories. Submitted by Deejaya on 14 August 2014, [online] Available at: http://www.worldwar1luton.com/blog-entry/dogged-determination [Accessed: 4 March  2015].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 4 March  2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447670/Daily-Telegraph-March-4-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Charlie Sorley: Officer of Poetry - Sunday, 17 January 1915

 

Source: File: Charles Hamilton Sorley in military uniform.jpg, 2015. Charles Sorley, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 17 January 1915. [online] Available at:<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sorley >[Accessed: 17 January 2015].

  

i  A Boy's Life

In Aberdeen of 1895 were born male twins,

William Ritchie Sorley and his elder brother,

Of some moments - Charles Hamilton Sorley. 

To Powis House, a mansion of the old town

Came this young family, with boys aged one -

A wild windy placed looking over the North

Sea - their home surrounded with fields,

Which were filled with the life of the wild -

And not so far away a station - for the boys

Led to mystery kingdoms down the tracks.

By age of five, now joined by a sister, the boys

Experienced another move - to Cambridge

Where their father was to become a university

Professor  - so the twins’ education began -

To centre on games of marching and singing.

Both in English and French - their sources,

Being the Pilgrims Progress and the Bible -

Along with ballads of Scott, Blake and bard

Of Shakespeare - all before a school career.

The older, Charlie Sorley, joined as a day boy,

At the King’s college choir school - happy

In everything - everywhere making adventures.

As twins, the boys looks and nature differed,

But a separation from his brother was uneasy;

For six weeks William fell ill with Scarlet Fever.

ii School Life

Aged 13 in 1908 Charlie gained a scholarship

With Marlborough College - separation again

Took him from William, then at another school.

Charlie by 1910 moved into the senior house,

Gaining delight in Alderley library - his resource.

This move Charlie had done with a friend

A boy who sadly, after a short illness, died.

Charlie was said to have taken this quietly.

With favoured runs across rain filled country,

He took solitary walks and to share in sports -

With iron views on right and wrong Charlie

Gave himself voluntary, for breaking of rules.

By December 1913 came yet another move

In education, with a scholarship for University

College Oxford – so Charlie agreed to leave

Marlborough early, an ending he would miss.

A habit for Charlie had been to write down

What was in his mind – early on this had been

In Forms of heroic verse, in a style of Scott –

The growing Charlie though, became reserved,

With his family knowing less of his activities.

  

Unknown to them he took part in a debating

Society  -making speeches and interactions

With the Malburian – the school magazine.

For a time his heroic verse tuned to shockers;

He told in dormitories within the dead of night.

Next in a move from lower to upper sixth,

Charlie gained leave to travel to Germany

First completing commitments to the Malburian

Preserving them for a family archive -Charlie

Sent batches of compositions to his mother,

On regular occasions, until June 1915.

iii  University Life

Now the twins were 19, when young Charlie,

On 20 January 1914, travelled away to Schmerin

In Mecklenberg – where he stayed with family

Of a lawyer – Charlie happily learned German,

And gained new friends  - with spring and April,

Charlie moved to Jena to become a university

Student - summer came in hot June, his family

Visited, for a stay in Jena and a tour of Thuringia.

During the Saturday evening of their weekend

Stay, Charlie led them through a town square -

Where men and women gathered about tables,

Under flared lights, with singing and drinking –

These people, who Charlie believed as having

Stupid expressions. The next day in climbing

A hill, they saw again such German habits.

They sat and looked across Jena - Charlie could

Not make out the German student who would

Spend two years in fighting, in folly drunkenness -

Only in the third year, did such students work -

To get though their exams - then with July 1914,

Came time for Charlie to trace his steps home.

A walking tour was planned, with a friend across

The Moselle valley, to join his brother William,

In Schwern  - in order to return home together

But this plan was never to happen - on Sunday

2 August, Charlie and friend were at Trier,

When suddenly arrested - to be placed in separate

Cells for a day – reasons for detainment given,

Due to their not wearing a hat – Charlie informed

The officer, such was a habit for people in Britain. 

Those long hours were relieved, by conversation,

With a soldier prisoner in the next cell - speaking

Through a knot hole while keeping awareness

Of the sentry – as tourists they were released,

And ordered to leave the country – so Charlie

Returned by way of Belgium – through Liege 

By train - as he drowsed on Monday afternoon,

Saw soldiers wearing waterloo hats on a platform.

By Brussels then Antwerp, Charlie shared

The problems of gaining passage homeward –

Finally to get aboard a boat, the British Consul

Had chartered - by 6 August Charlie made it home

Still hatless with a Jena beer mug and sandals.

  

iv Army Life

With hardly time to take any breath on 7 August,

Charlie applied to take an army commission,

With the university board of military studies –

Yet with nothing happening Charlie, in Oxford,

Made out another application to join up.

Charlie considered of joining as a private -

He believed to be 'the really heroic thing to do' -

When he found the Gazette displayed his name

For a new service battalion - the 7th Battalion

Of Suffolk Regiment - to be a second Lieutenant.

On that same day, came orders for him to report

At Churn, a training camp on the Berkshire Downs.

By third week of September he arrived At Shorncliffe

Situated above town of Folkstone - learning history

Of the 'Old Dozen' - his regiment with all its traditions.

Amid letters of 1915 - the date uncertain - yet written

In mid January - Lieutenant Charles Sorley wrote

From Shorncliffe, to say of alarming monotony,

Of his existence - how staleness affects the men

And officers alike - a reported lack of efficiency 

Meant they were unlikely to move for a time.

Days went swift but with nothing to show - living

For a future turned to the past - in habit of old men.

'War is chasm in time,' Charles defied the media's

Habit to claim 'war is ennobling purge' - only to cause

Unhappiness and lack of comforts - papers should

He felt, be muzzled - any illusion of war as splendour

Would need to be purged, after the end of the war.

Any leave was in abeyance, despite the inactivity -

He felt for his friend, with Oriel men mostly in khaki.

Charles made envy with his advantage of working

With his brain - his own felt stagnant - even any will

To learn French was absent - his mind stayed shut.

by Jamie Mann

 Anon., 1919. The Letters of Charles Sorley with a Chapter on Biography.

 Cambridge University Press.  Chapter 1 Biographical.

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