Thursday 19 July 2012

A young man about to go to war, composes a prayer for his mother

The year is 1941 and a young man has joined the British army and lied about his age to be accepted into an infantry regiment, The King's Royal Rifles.

His older brother is already in the arena and his father, a veteran of the First World War and a holder of the Military Medal for outstanding valour, is in the Home Guard.

The Nazi bombs fall every night on London and its outskirts, where the young man lives with his family.

Life appears very precarious hanging by a narrow thread but, before he departs, the seventeen year old writes a prayer for his mother:





That was from one of my brothers, Michael Collins RIP, late of the King's Royal Rifles and the Commandos

11 comments:

  1. Richard,
    Wonderful prayer and sentiments!




    Cheers,

    Michael.


    Michael.

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  2. Bless you Michael and many thanks.

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  3. Beautiful!

    I had a lump in my throat reading it.

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  4. Brought me to tears. Thank you, Richard, and God bless.

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  5. This a truly moving and beautiful message, Richard. I am touched. Thank you so much for sharing your family heritage with us. If you would kindly give me permission, I would be very interested in posting the story/prayer on my blog, acknowledging you as the original poster, of course. If you would be willing, please do let me know.

    God Bless,
    Pearl

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  6. Pearl, please go ahead and thank you for your kind comments. Tabatha and Remedia, thank you both. Chris, it is something of a tearjerker isn't it. He survived the war having fought in Burma and the Balkans but died of TB here in Pembrokeshire in 1956. God bless.

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  7. Richard
    This is so very lovely. What a beautiful mind your brother must have had, God rest his dear soul. You must be proud of him for many reasons. I thank you for sharing this precious piece of family life, even though it brought me to tears! Thanks Richard & God bless you.

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  8. Thank you Breadgirl. Amazingly, this poem only came to light a few days ago. It is now in the rightful possession of Michael's three children.

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  9. And the iambs flow as beautifully as the content. No "prosetry" here; this is craftsmanship. What a remarkable man.

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  10. Thanks Mack, that is indeed a compliment, coming from you.

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