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David Selzer is a writer of poetry, prose fiction, screenplays and stage plays. He embraces digital platforms to share his work of more than fifty years… READ MORE
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D-DAY CELEBRATIONS
The TV presenter speaks of ‘sacrifice’.
She is al fresco on a purple sofa
with puce cushions. In the middle ground
are dignitaries, veterans, and a band.
Beyond are the War Graves Commission’s white ranks
of the British dead from Sword and Gold.
Only one speaker – beret, blazer, medals,
a RN signaller on a landing craft –
comes close to hinting that no one chose
to be a sacrifice. His speech is short,
even appropriately amusing,
and delivered unwaveringly
until the phrase, ‘My abiding memory’.
He halts, overcome – then repeats the words:
and, for the untold time, becomes a helpless
witness. The young squaddies he had joked with –
moments before the ramp clattered down –
were dead, floating with the tide toward the sand.
3 responses to “D-DAY CELEBRATIONS”
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Touching, the futile attempts for glory.
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It is so important that we of the succeeding generation keep these memories alive. I was born 9 June 1944 as the ‘boys were on the Beaches’, my father already one of the RAF dead. It is vain to believe that only the living observe.
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Amy Beechey, from Lincolnshire, was one of 2 mothers who lost 5 sons in the Great War. In April 1918, Amy Beechey was presented to King George V, and honoured by the King and Queen for her immense sacrifice – but despite her great pride in her sons, she was a reluctant heroine.
“It was no sacrifice, Ma’am,” she told Queen Mary. “I did not give them willingly.”
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