Anon
Unknown
By an unknown Canadian Prisoner of War, captured at Dieppe. Taken from the diary of Harold Scharfe.
It was the 18th day of August in 1942.
We sailed away from England and no one knew where to.
We had received no orders, no friends to see us leave.
The 2nd Canadian Division with the blue patch on their sleeve.
Early the next morning, when everything was still,
We saw the tracer bullets come at us from the hill.
But we kept right on a 'sailing, and no man will forget
The morning that we landed, on the beaches of Dieppe.
The enemy was waiting and had taken up his posts.
We met a hail of bullets as we landed on the coast.
But every man there landed or at least he tried.
Tho' many there were wounded and many also died.
It was early in the morning, when we started in to fight.
The mortar shells came at us from left and front and right.
They shelled us from the cliffs and bombed us from the air,
But the 2nd Canadian Division were not so easily scared.
We fought there for 9 hours, from 5a.m. til 2.
Our losses were terrific, but there was nothing we could do.
The Navy came to help us but their boats they could not land,
So we had to surrender at Dieppe, there on that stretch of sand.
What is left of us are prisoners, beneath a foreign flag.
Here in the heart of "Deutschland" in a camp they call "Stalag".
Many of our comrades fell, but we never will forget.
They gave their lives a fighting in the battle of Dieppe.
When this war is over and once again we're free.
To our homeland we'll be sailing, to a land of liberty.
Though many have a battle scar, I'm sure no man can forget
The morning that we landed on the French coast at Dieppe.
Red Cross
We thank you for all that you do
Every day you are helping us through
Delicious hot tea we can frequently brew
Coffee and cocoa we thought we'd not get
Remember the joys of the first cigarette
Oh! for some chocolate was once the cry
Seems-the RED CROSS has heard the great sigh
Sincerely we thank thee for all that you do.
Sometimes we're browned off
Or feel rather blue
Or even be feeling quite sad
Come what may there's one thing that's true
In RED CROSS we'll always be glad
Every parcel we have the luck to receive
Tom, Dick or Harry is proud to receive
You'll join me in saying it's true
RED CROSS --We thank you for
All that you do.
Safe Keeping
I pray for your safe keeping
With every hour that chimes
Thru all the pain and peril
And terror of the times
My thoughts are ever with you
Although we are apart
In daytime and in darkness
You are in my mind and heart
We cannot be together
These troubled times to share
But may you be protected
This is my constant prayer
That you may be delivered
Thru all the strife and strain
God have you in his keeping
Until we meet again
Unknown
Of all the places in the world
At least it seems to me
A prison camp is not the place
For women's eyes to see
For months behind a barbed wire fence
Can warp the sanest mind
Unless it keeps some ort of hold
Or somehow strength can find
And hunger causes men to steal
To get some filthy stew
And some behave like animals
The lowest thing to do
The saddest thing of all to see
Is virile manhood brave
Reduced to fleshless skin and bones
Like those due for the grave
So God forbid that you my son
Should ever captured be
And pray that all your battles then
Shall end in VICTORY
Discarded
He grabbed me round my slender neck
I could not call or scream
He dragged me to his dining room
Where he could not be seen
He tore away my flimsy wrap
And looked upon my form
I was so cold and wet and scared
Whilst he was hot and warm
His feverish lips he pressed to mine
I gave him every drop
He drained me of my very self
I could not make him stop
He made me what I am today
That's why you find me here
A broken bottle cast away
That once was filled with beer
Keep Smiling
Tho' clouds may blot out the horizon
And the days seem weary and long
Just think of the dawn of tomorrow
And cheer up your heart with a song
For if every day we keep smiling
And stick to our word "Carry On"
The shadows will break into sunshine
And Right will soon triumph over Wrong