Robert E. Kerr

Bob is a former member of the Royal Canadian Navy and is in the communications trade. He lives in Kanata, Ontario, Canada.

TO A FALLEN PEACEKEEPER

Cpl Daniel Gunther

Awarded: November 2001Had I seen him fall…
I could have caught him
Eased his pain and
Bound his wounds-
He’d not have passed alone
So far from home.
Had I heard the shot
Had I seen the shooter
Had I seen him exposed
Had I been able to yell –
Had I … had I …
So far from home
My mind knows all the reasons
but my heart hears only the tears,
That he had to be there and fall
In somebody else’s bloody business –
In the insanity of their freedom –
So far from home.

Author’s Note: Dedicated to Corporal Daniel Gunther, a Canadian United Nations Peacekeeper, who was attacked and killed near Buci, Bosnia on 18 June 1993