Ann Lovelace – poetry

Ann Lovelace

CORPORAL DIXON REMEMBERS

Nearly half a million soldiers stranded on Dunkirk sands. Nothing to eat and fearing we were trapped and in enemy hands Stukka planes screeching over us, flames and smoke all around Exhausted by thirst and hunger, bombarded by the bombs’ blasting sound. What would be the outcome? We lay there awaiting our fate. Hoping for some respite and for the nightmare to abate. And then it came – the miracle, gradually over several days A diverse means of transport appeared through the smoky haze. Fishing smacks and pleasure craft, boas of every kind, All braving the dangerous journey with one plan only in mind. To transport we thousands of soldiers back to the British shore Ferrying their passengers to safety, before going back for more. Passengers like me, Douglas Dixon a corporal in the Medical Corps. Who like thousands of others thought nothing was solved by war. But knowing that Hitler was determined to overrun our land With reluctance saw it as my duty to lend a helping hand. Now I am past my nineties, married for seventy years I still so vividly remember how my desperation turned to cheers. After five days of near starvation was the best sight I’d ever seen, The famous paddle boat of its day, the popular Medway Queen. One of hundreds of other craft manned by bands of men Who not only volunteered once, but again, again and again. Crossing the English Channel, leaving frightened children and wives In the biggest transport operation, saving half a million lives. My heart bleeds for the trapped in Ukraine, with its all too familiar story. The suffering and terror and all for no more than Putin’s glory.

inspired by Corporal Dixon