My mother fought in the war, not hand to hand of course, but she ran the switchboard at the underground fortress on the Isle of Portland where the D-Day invasion was planned. She was a target of a spiteful fighter who strafed her landlady’s garden and had to dive under the hedge with the children. She alerted her base to a spy who was subsequently caught and she said there were six men, any one of which she might have married if they had not gone off to fight and never came back. Her tears on Remembrance Day taught us to tear up…
each Autumn brought tears
of Remembrance for lost loves
fallen in the war
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Frank J. Tassone in Haibun Monday, invites us, on America’s Memorial Day, when those who have fallen in service of their country are remembered, to write a a Haibun recalling those whom we lost. This is about my mther’s Remembrance but from her example, we learned the meaning of loss and the response of tears.
I wrote a longer poem about Remembrance and an exploration of my mother’s story in the memoir I wrote in this year’s A to Z Challenge here.
Thank you for this piece of personal history, Andrew. I love stories about WW2. Your mother was a brave woman. That’s a lovely photo, too.
Thanks Kim! If you get time, check out the A to Z with more of her story and a longer poem about Remembrance Sunday…
Thank you, Andrew, for this story. It makes me teary-eyed.
Aww, Nolcha! Thanks for commenting…
I so wonder of all those stories that never will be told. My mother had stories too about having to flee from Norway when the Nazis invaded… but she was just 11….
I think I learned the importance of storytelling from my mother even if I didn’t fully value ut at the time…
Well that was very powerful, very real. I felt that. I would say this haibun is an important testament. Beautifully done.
Thank you Ain, I read so many stories of yours of people lost to war – I am not surprised it has resonance for you – peace come…