Forever they live

Forever they live

Poem remembering those who did not live to see the end of war.

1943-09-02

Two page handwritten document

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MNichollsJEK2011088-200201-16

[Royal Air Force crest]
[underlined] Forever they live [/underlined]
There are so many who will never see,
The banners flying high in victory,
Nor know their England bathed in peace & rest,
N’er see again the friends that they love best.
Their laughter and their love forever stilled,
Their names to gain the mounting list of killed
And yet their memory lives, the men who died
To give the world her freedom and her pride.
Courageously they flew their way to death
An utterance of vengeance on each breath,
They sailed the seas with fearless hand
And strafed the enemy on the land.
They are not dead, for great men such as these,
Will live forever like the sun & trees,
And light the world again with Englands might,
To kill the dark invader should he fight
Could we forget the sacrifice they made
Or the British blood with which they paid?
[page break]
No, theirs is life eternal, for God has seen,
The deeds of glory that have been.
Theirs, is no loss, for all the earth shall rise,
To sing them [inserted] thankful [/inserted] praises to the [deleted] peaceful [/deleted] skies,
[signature]
2/9/43