Mark E. Brotherton

THE YANKS

A view from Molesworth
Photo ©Copyright circa 2001 by Mark E. BrothertonThey came among us brash and loud.
In our eyes they were rich and untidy
And they bought our love and our respect,
But they paid not in dollars,
but with passion – a rare passion for life,
which they gave of freely
and of their abundance even more freely.

And they died, like we died
And they bled, like we bled
And we grew to love them so much
in the humble surroundings
they were now very much a part of…

Even now in the early foggy mornings
when everyone else is asleep
when I hear a noise, I think of them
Perhaps they’re gathering again
in the clouds over head,
comrades in spirit;
Gathering now to head out again,
back over death’s doorway.

I think of them in May…
when others gather at Madingley
I think of them often…
and wish better circumstances
would bring us back together.

Father Billy blesses the crews. Sadly several of these men would not return to Grafton Underwood from this mission
Photo courtesy of Mark E. Brotherton