THOUGHTS

by By F.M. O'Keefe A/B S.T.
H.M.C.S. Uganda
In the Pacific War Zone 1945

You people at home, rejoice at the thought;
Of the end of the war; and the trouble's it wrought;
Please remember the East; where the war is not through;
And the lads in "Uganda", who are fighting for you.

They who did battle, in the war in the west;
Are now in the East, still doing their best;
Each long day of strife, seems to them so unending;
There's a drone in the sky; a Jap. plane is descending;

Here he come, like a bomb; through the air he is soaring;
He's coming straight for us; his engines are roaring;
" There's a prayer on each lip; and there's seat on each brow;
He has come within range --- And we ·Open Up" now.

There's a great flash of flame -- And the sparks they shoot high,
As the parts of the bomber -- Spread over the sky;
Then, there comes to each ear, the sound of a band,
It is music they know; from some distant land.

They smile, and the music gets clearer and clearer;
Each man sees a picture as if in a mirror;
" He is home" - There's a rejoicing and much celebrating,
As he tells of the plans that he's contemplating.

Now, the music has stopped -- He is back at his post,
But -- His thoughts are still home, with the ones he loves most;
He may never return -- But if God wills he should,
Just always remember -- He fought for what's good,
He was willing to die, that this world might be,
A fit place to live in -- For you and for me.