Anyway, it's a short entry which again focuses on 'glorious' war - this time in commemoration of the second declaration of world war in 1939 - and was penned at school under the brief of using a paragraph to capture the perspective of a soldier.
A Soldier’s Tale
We’ve been through
hell for our King and country – six months of disease and
exhaustion. Look at it. Mud, rats and lice – it all gets to you,
particularly the lice. God, what a mess. We’ve got to get away from
this, we need rest, we’re so exhausted. The Germans can keep their
shells, we don’t want them. Some of my mates look even worse than
me. They’re staggering everywhere, like they’ve had one too many
– blind, deaf and dumb. Some of them have lost their boots – what
a thing to do in a place like this. Uh-oh here come the gas shells.
Watch out lads! Got to get my mask on! Done it! Oh no, Johnny’s too
slow. Ugh, I can’t look, it’s…it’s…disgusting! Thank God,
the gas is thicker, now I can’t see him. Wait a minute I can’t
see anyone else now. I’m lost, in a cloud of green. Oh at last, I
can see someone. Oh no – it’s Johnny! God he looks awful. He’s
on his knees now. He’s going to die. I know he is. I’ve got him
in my arms now. It’s hard to hold onto him. He won’t stop moving.
I feel sick. How about you? Just look at his face – green,
distorted, rotten. And he’s still alive. Do you still think death’s
glorious – even if it’s patriotic? More like psychotic. God, what
a mess.
