Europa – in the dark valley
between the world wars
Out of the total darkness came a light brighter than infinite suns...
Poetry on women (and men) in conflict
Nick Armbrister
And
Andy N
-----------
Lorraine
The bayonet. I've had it a decade. There's provenance here... not written I'm afraid. My mate Richard, who I went to school with in 82-87, had a lovely sister, Lorraine, from a different dad.
He was a soldier in the British army. He's dead now. He collected weapons, guns and bayonets. His wife asked Richard what to do with them. Some guns were real. I said tell any coppers the guns are replicas or deactivated. I had the bayonet.
The story... the soldier, my mates stepdad, was in combat in the (Alsace) Lorraine area of France. A huge battle was fought here. Many were killed on both sides. Alsace/Lorraine was part of France, then Germany, finally France, in this fight and in history. There's even a cross of Lorraine.
The Tommie found a dead German soldier. I don't know if he killed him. He took the bayonet off him. And survived the war. In later years, I guess 1968/9, he had a beautiful daughter. Her name is Lorraine. That pretty northern lass is named after that oh so special area in France, Lorraine, where that awful fight took place, to crush the Nazis. Where her father fought. We won but many died. I'd ask the soldier to write it down but he's dead now. So there you go.
I've not seen Lorraine in ages. Where is she now? Does she remember what happened at Lorraine? Does she know the bayonet's story?
No comments:
Post a Comment