New Generation Veterans We honour our old veterans, we honour them with pride and read of all the horrors they have carried deep inside. We know they served in Asia or New Guinea’s highland rains, Vietnam or in Africa where many men were slain. We know that fateful landing on Gallipoli’s dark shore, wherever Aussies fought, we know there are so many more, but now a new young generation needs our help as well, they too have been to war and suffer with their private hell. Though losses are not classed as great, their fears are just the same those electronic hidden bombs, still injure, kill or maim. They fight against an enemy they find so hard to see who mingle in the market place, then cause much tragedy. Insurgents in Afghanistan hide in the rough terrain or roaming in Iraq, where, wearing robes they look the same. The suicide stealth bombers, don’t care who they hurt or kill, then, with their own beliefs, they try to break our forces will. Our fighting Aussie spirit shows on any foreign land, they’re in the skies, they’re on the sea, or on the desert sand. Now many are returning with the horrors they still see and living with their nightmares, suffering bureaucracy. I know on Remembrance day, we all remember with a tear, but all vets young or old, they need our help throughout the year, support and listen to their stories, when they do get told, lets honour our new veterans, just like we do our old. David J Delaney 10 February 2010 © Do you know? When darkness comes And with it the shadows of the dead Do you know? When battles fought fly around my head Do you know? When you speak with an acid tongue And tell me I was wrong Do you know the price we paid In the jungles of Vietnam? Do not sit there in your easy chair And dream your dreams of comfort Do not break your narrow view Or try to see from my side You judge me without knowing And that is no judge at all For experience tells the adult What the young do not yet know I suffered more than you can know In that dark leafed place Where death walked side by side with me And often showed his face Some days I did not know if I Was ever coming home And then I’m faced with acid rain From you when I come home I fought because I’m a soldier And a warriors hearts beats within me You comfort lover would not understand this So I retreat But know this when you finally see Before your last breath leaves you cold That all I wanted was your love And not a heart of stone Ann-Marie Spittle

Prayer for Remembrance Day For those who were killed in battle, For those who gave up their lives to save others For those who fought because they were forced to, For those who died standing up for a just cause For those who said war was wrong, For those who tried to make the peace For those who prayed when others had no time to pray For those creatures who needlessly die For those trees that needlessly are slaughtered For all of mankind let us quietly pray: May your God hold them in peace May Love flow over the Earth and cleanse us all This day and for always. Amen. Are You Sleeping? (to the tune of "Frere Jacques") See the poppies See the poppies Oh so red Oh so red Growing on the hillside Growing on the hillside Soldiers lay dead Soldiers lay dead Entrenched Trembling down in the trench, thinking of nothing but home, Above I hear a roar, another mine has blown. There is no turning back, the battle must go on, Nonetheless it seems to me all meaningless and wrong. As if one shot from me, will help the war at all, My task is to 'go o'er the top', to fire and then to fall. Of course I love my country, but I'm too young to die, Echoing all around I hear the bitter battle cry. I wish I hadn't come, I wish I wasn't here, But it is far too late, and I'm overcome with fear. I once felt so very proud that I was going to fight, But how can any man have pride, after seeing this harrowing sight. I long for freedom, and yet more for peace, The day when this endless war will cease. But for now I value every given breath, For the time draws near when I shall meet my certain death. Pippa Moss A poem written when the author was fourteen-years-old. We remember We remember On this day On this day Soldiers on the hillside Soldiers on the hillside Far away Far away