We Will Always Remember Them, by Rae Davison

WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THEM

The guns are rusted relics, some graves are over grown

The trenches where our diggers fought, so many miles from home

Are memories fading from the past, no one’s alive today

So we must hold these memories dear and never let them stray

When Hitler entered Poland the Poms said that’s enough

We have to stop this tyrant; he’s really not that tough

Let’s get the colonies involved for they are men of clout

With the Aussies and the Kiwis we’ll soon get them out

They signed up by the thousands, these men were in their prime

The ships that sailed from Albany would get them there on time

But many willing soldier saw adventure not the pain

And left our shores forever, they’d not come home again

The training in the Middle East would toughen up our lot

Before they sailed to Anzac Cove to give the Turks a shock

A shock it was but not the way our men thought, to their surprise

Johnny Turk he was waiting and cut us down to size

They were waiting for us as we scrambled to the shore

And many never made it, we lost men by the score

Then we fought them in the trenches, guns and bayonets were the drill

Ten thousand miles away from home, this was not a thrill.

We knew that we were beaten, Ataturk let us disband

And we left the mud and hardship, after all it was his land

They will never be forgotten, we left many mates by jove

And their names forever written, with their blood at Anzac Cove

The war was far from over, Hitler’s troops invaded France

Our men went to the Western Front, we had another chance

To show the Nazi enemy our troops were made of steel

At Passchendaele and Hamel we showed them we were real

John Monash was put in charge, an engineer from Vic

He pulled the troops together, planned a battle that would stick

Some were far from happy and they told our leaders so

But Billy Hughes our Little Digger, said give the man a go

With tanks and planes and infantry, he planned the battle well

And for ninety three long minutes he gave the Germans hell

They fled, this leader was the best, his troops must be insane

The hand to hand offence, they’ll not want that again

When you walk the roads at Hamel, Villers Bretonneux and more

Look in the shops and you will see our flags there by the score

It’s “thank you Aussies” everywhere you’re welcome when you enter

And before you leave the Somme my friend, visit the Monash Centre

The fighting in the desert was far different from in France

In Palestine and Gaza they thought they had a chance

The men from way down under, showed them that we were superior

After taking Lebanon we then marched into Syria

The price we paid was very high, sixty thousand Aussies dead

One hundred and fifty thousand casualties, that’s roughly what they said

And now we live in this great land, in fact I think we’re pampered

But never in a million years will we take these men for granted.

By Rae Davison