A poem about a local WW1 hero

(Includes the song version created using, dare I say it, Ai!)

Thomas Kenny VC

 

One born in South Wingate 

Another born in Kent

Their lives forever intertwined 

By bravery & lament

 

Thomas raised on coal & grit

Philip Brown, on paper & ink

But, one dark & foggy eve

Into a hell they both would sink

 

Thomas was blessed with 7 kids

(And 7 more to come!)

But, when the war came calling 

He swapped a coal pick for a gun

 

His wife was Isabella 

All of Roman Catholic faith 

No doubt she often prayed

To keep her husband safe

 

A brotherhood, found in the D.L.I

Men chiselled from the same black stone

They held belief & common ground 

For, friendship can be a home

 

The training itself was brutal

Badly conceived & planned

Though it served as preparation 

To survive in No Man's Land

 

In France, the Battalion prepared 

For the horror that was to come

Though, few men knew of the trenches

Where so much blood would run

 

Their Lieutenant was Philip Brown

“Of courtesy & much cheer!”

His observer, Thomas Kenny 

Who, forever, would be near

 

But that fateful night in November 

Soon came knocking at their door

As both men trudged along

The trenches sodden floor

 

A wiring party, they'd gone to find

But, the night was dark & bleak

Duplicity creeped at every turn

A wretched game of hide & seek

 

Fog rolled in like dragon's breath 

Deceiving the mind & eyes

Every sound & hazy shadow

Whispered with treacherous lies

 

Soon, lost, they could only hope

For a sign or familiar ground

But, the rattle & thunder of gunfire

Was to be the only sound 

 

Philip got the brunt of it

Both legs now destroyed 

As they fell into an unknown hell

Into the Devil's void 

 

Bullets whistled their tune of death

As Thomas held his friend 

Hoisting him up upon his back

This is not how we shall end!

 

Through freezing mud, barbed wire & fire

He dragged his brother of war 

Despite the cries of “leave me here!”

Only bravery came to the fore

 

Soaked, exhausted & freezing 

A familiar ditch was found They fell into its open mouth

No-longer on hostile ground

 

Thomas comforted Philip 

Though, red streams pooled in mud

He trawled the trenches in hope of help

He'd done all that he could…

 

***

 

Perhaps, when receiving his medal

With Victoria Cross in hand

Beside him stood Lt Brown

Making one last gallant stand

 

On leaving Buckingham Palace 

Philip's Mother stood in wait

It was a friendship that would last

Until she walked through Heaven's Gate

***

 

The first DLI Soldier of WW1

To earn a prestigious V.C.

 A local lad: A local hero

Who lives on in memory 

 

©️ Stephen W Atkinson 2025