We Did Remember Them!
Poems and a report from Year 9 students who recently visited the battlefields of Flanders and France.
Heroes of Forgotten Days
Sunshine is gone, I only see grey
Rats are crawling where I lay
Wish I had a bit more time
Laying here in my prime.
They fight in this desert of dirt
With pride, not revealing their hurt
Their lives are ordered and strict
What happens next they cannot predict.
They put their lives on the line
Blood and dirt, there is no shine.
With every single fearful breath
A second closer to his death.
True heroes to us, they shine like a star
Even though they are so very far.
These men and women truly amaze
We’ll cherish them till the end of our days.
By Georgia and Hannah
Frontline Ghost
I started as a soldier, happy as you could be.
I danced amid the gun-shots,
even though they were the death of me.
My comrades were shot down,
I was standing on post.
That’s how I got my name,
I am the frontline ghost.
It was the 6th of September, 1917.
Nine o’clock in the morning,
when the bullet embedded in me.
My shrieks of torture lasted
for a minute at most,
It was a quick and mournful death,
I am the frontline ghost.
Shot down. We lay unknown.
Heart stopped. Chilled to the bone.
Missing. Never to be found.
Remember me,
as you tread along this ground.
They stole my rations, they stole my soul.
They stripped me away, I had no control.
They captured my body, they became the host.
The rats are the reason I’m empty;
I am the frontline ghost.
Never be scared, never be afraid.
You help your family, save a comrade.
I died a hero at the most,
And I proudly stand as the Frontline Ghost.
By Faye and Sophie
I wrote this poem with…
Mud and water everywhere.
Fighting in the war you forget to care.
This will be death for a thousand men,
And I wrote this poem with just a paper and pen.
Shells exploding,
Guns reloading,
This will be death for a thousand men,
And I wrote this poem with just a paper and pen.
Machine guns roar,
During the Great War
This will be death for a thousand men,
And I wrote this poem with just a paper and pen.
Mustard gas stains the air
I kneel down and say a quick prayer,
This will be death for a thousand men,
And I wrote this poem with just a paper and pen.
By Honor
World War One Battlefields Educational Visit
The sheer amount of evidence we were shown really put into perspective how much we owe the soldiers who fought in World War One. Our tour guide, Martin – an ex-major in the army – fed our minds with facts and stories that brought the war to life. We all now have a greater understanding of what it was really like to fight in World War One.
We visited many cemeteries during our trip to Belgium and France. We looked at German, English, French and Canadian lines. During our Canadian tour at Vimy Ridge, we went into the original, deep tunnels used by the soldiers to get up to the frontline trenches. We also got to go into the trench systems, looking over No Man’s Land, just as the soldiers would have done. Additionally we were taken to many monuments, including the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. This was a breath-taking sight to see Mother Canada, flanked by the huge columns of pale limestone, overlooking the battlefield where her soldiers had fought.
We even found Walter Allen, on one of the plaques in the cemetery at Arras close to where he was killed in action on Thursday 21 March 1918 aged 24. He had attended Kibworth Grammar School as a boy and had lived in Great Glen.
One of the parts that meant a lot to me was being involved in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres. This ceremony takes place at 8 o’clock every evening, and it was very moving. I had the privilege of being one of the students chosen to lay a wreath on behalf of Kibworth High School.
We finished the week full of information and respect for those who had fought and played a role in the war and a left with a greater understanding of what the soldiers must have gone through.
We really appreciate the opportunity to have visited these sites. It is a trip that will stay in our memories forever.
We will never forget.
Charlotte and Georgia
Remembrance: Private Harold Kirk 1891-1917
Kibworth High School Trip to the World War One Battlefields
