For Don

I talked to my best friend today. He is dying. I don’t think I shall hear his wonderful voice again.

We go back about 15 years. We have written daily for the past ten. I will write him until the end. And then what?

We both have a profound passion for history. His father served the guns with C Battery, RCHA during The Great War. My grandfather, the infantry in that same horrible war. That was our initial bond. Our friendship grew from there.

He became my mentor in all things spiritual. I became his mewntor in all things outside of his life. Two opposites. One spirit. Ever hear of soul mates. We are. No doubt about it.

I wrote a little skit some years ago. It is about an old vet on his death bed. In the room is the one who has come to lead him away. We shall all meet him some day. I dedicate this to my dear friend Don. I’ll see you on The Somme, my friend.

For Don


"And so, you've finally come for me?"
"Yes."
"It's been some time since I last felt your presence."
"Yes, it has been some time."
"I've thought a lot about you over the years and I have off times wondered when you would appear."
"I've been busy these past years but a date with you has always been assured."
"And how are the boys? Do you think that they will remember me after all the time that has gone by? God, how I've missed their company."
"Oh yes, how well they remember you. Often Jimmy Hobbs would say to me, 'When are you getting old Nobby?' And I would say, 'Soon enough, Jimmy, soon enough.'"
"Jimmy Hobbs! God bless him! It's been years since I thought of Jimmy. You know, till now I'd forgotten what poor Jimmy looked like. Can you imagine that? Him and I were as close as brothers. And what we went through together! Christ, didn't we make a mess out of old Fritzie's dug-out the night of that trench raid? Oh, well I remember Jimmy yellin' down the dug-out entrance, 'Come on Fritz, get your asses up here!'"
"Yes, Nobby, I remember that too."
"Yes, yes, of course, you were there. But there was Jimmy just a cursin' and me handing him them grenades as fast as he could reach back for them. Oh my, that was some night, what with the star shells popping off over head and Fritzie's machine guns justa' chattering away. Yes sir, that was some night. Damn, something's in my eye. Would you pass me the tissue from the side table? I can't seem to reach it."
"Don't worry, Nobby, your eyes are okay now."
"Why, yes, yes they are."
"I'll look after you, Nobby."
"And what about Donny? Oh, shoot, what was Donny's last name? Damn, I can see his face before me."
"Donny Miller."
"Yes, yes, Donny Miller."
"It has been a while, Nobby, but don't be too concerned, everything will come back to you."
"Donny was with me when we first tried to take that damned Regina Trench. Do you remember him saying, 'Nob (he always called me Nob) I'm gonna' get me one of them spiked helmets that Fritzie wears.' Sure, didn't we start through our wire -- mud up to our knees -- and Donny just a singin'. 'Nob, Nob, -- Nob, Nob, I'm gonna get me a picklehaube.' Said he would some day tell his grand children... he got it in a hand to hand fight with a huge Prussian Guardsman ... I told his mother..."
"Yes, Nobby, I remember that."
"Well we didn't take Regina Trench that day, did we. And mind, it wasn't that we didn't give it our best. But Jesus!, the mud and wire and Fritzie's shells and Fritzie's machine guns... Where was our supporting artillery??"
"They were suffering too, Nobby. I met quite a few of them that day."
"Yes, I guess you were a busy one that day. But, by God, it will be good to see Donny again."
He's not changed, Nobby."
"And Bill Wilson?"
"He's waiting to see you, Nobby."
"Christ!, didn't Bill and I get ourselves into a fix up there on Vimy Ridge?"
"That you did, Nobby."
"There's Bill 'n' me stuck in that shell hole -- boy, she was snowing that day -- and it seemed to us that the whole German army was counter attackin' us, do you recall?"
"I remember that, Nobby."
"Yes, there's Bill with that bloody Lewis gun just spitting away at Fritz. And me passin' him those pans of ammunition. Damn, that was a good old gun! And, Jesus, those shells were ploppin' all around us. But Bill held them off, didn't he. He sent me back for more ammunition... I, I couldn't get back to him. Oh how I've prayed that Bill didn't think I'd deserted him."
"He knew you did your best, Nobby."
"But, don't you see, what with the shell fire, the snow, the mud ... why, I just couldn't find him again."
"Bill knows, Nobby, he knows."
"I, I just recalled Davey Atkinson! We called him Lefty. By the Jesus, could he throw a Mills bomb! Where was we that Fritz was holdin' us up that one time?
"Decline Copse, at Passchendaele, Nobby."
"Now how could I forget that! Yes, there was one of them pill boxes holdin' us up in front of them shattered trees by the railway line. The Aussies were on our right, weren't they?"
"You have a fine memory, Nobby."
"So Lefty says to me, 'Cover me, Nobby, I'm gonna' try to pitch some eggs into that nest!' Well, up I gets and starts fifteen rounds rapid fire from my old Enfield. I last seen Lefty runnin' and throwin', runnin' and throwin'. His eggs were bangin' all around that pill box. But damned if I didn't catch a bullet in my chest! I could still see Lefty chuckin' those bombs before I passed out. Did he make it? I never heard."
“He is waiting for you, Nobby."
“And Len Striker? How about Shifty Burns? Jake Smithers? Tommy and Sammy Wright? And ..."
"They are all here, Nobby. They are all waiting to see you again."
"And what about Willy Jones, and..."
"Nobby, it is time to go."
"Yes, yes, it is time to go... and Johnny...."

Yer pal

Jim