THE FORGOTTEN MEN

You've heard of old Horatio and the way he held the bridge;
Of Hannibal and his elephants, and the way they crossed the ridge.
You've heard of course of Henry's boys, and the job they did on the Frogs;
Of the trick they sprung at Agincourt, it's all in history's logs:

No doubt the story of the Borderers, will forever be in history's pages;
Of the teeth they broke there at Rourke's Drift, forever spruik by sages.
Of how old Ginger and his battlers that came and had a go;
There on the beach at ANZAC, all those many years ago:

How Albert, and his boys, pushed the Germans back;
"Peacefully" they tell us, there at Menins track.
Of the Butcher's Boys from Melbourne, and their push long Kakoda's trail;
From Moresby cross to Buna, in harsh jungle fighting, and never did they fail:

There's Dunkirk, the place where the army got stole away;
To strike back at the enemy, four years later, on D-Day.
The glory of Monty's 'Eighth' will be forever told;
Matched only by George's 'Third', so strong and tough and bold:

There's ANZAC Cove, Le Mons, the Somme, and Ypres, they all come to attention;
Tobruk and Ruin Ridge, Anzio, El-Alemein, and Long Tan cracks a mention.
In war there's one thing sure and true, you beat 'em good,
if just they once, and they'll tell the stories grand;
You'll never be forgotten, a toast throughout the land;

The war to end all wars ended with a second round;
But when they went for thirds, none eager could be found.
' Twas too close to 'the big one', that great big World War Two;
Where everyone got a Guernsey, it sure was the biggest blue:

So they rounded them up and made them go, 'twas conscripts to the fray
And they held out just like 'real ones' 1951, ANZAC Day.
Have you ever heard of the 'Forgotten War', and a place they call Kap Yong;
The odds were fierce, the enemy bold, the boys fought hard and long:

But to find it you'd need an atlas, for campaign, well it lost the round;
The generals, they got disgraced, though they never gave up ground.
See there's those who are not so lucky, they'll not grace the halls of fame;
They'll never be remembered, just called 'what-his-name':

For it doesn't matter where you go, it don't matter where you're sent;
It only matters how you go, it matters how you went.
For wars are funny things, you're a hero when you win;
But come a draw or lose one, and you're forgotten men:

©April 2003 by A.R. [Lex] Fullarton

Author’s Note: I wrote this poem in honour of the 50th Annivesary of the cease fire of the Korean war and to all those who fought in it and other little known conflicts such as Malaya, Aden and the like. The 24th was also the 53rd Anniversary of Kap Yong, which is what I sort of focused the poem around but it is true of all wars.