I've had some asks for the poem I read at the unveiling of the plaque commemorating The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald. In truth, I was asked by Mike Dorsey if I'd read it just before the event started and was handed a paper copy of the poem right then. That copy went to a German journalist, but I've found the text online here:
A REFLECTION
By Willie Walderam, Royal Canadian Air Force, KLB 78402
I'll think of you dear KLB
Again some future day,
When the world is gay and free
And I am so far away.
Of those long appells in pouring rain
With neither boots nor shoes,
And the SS guards who counted us
Hitting whom they choose.
When I bounce my children on my knee,
I'll think of the Gypsy kids,
Who, instead of wearing ball and chain,
Should have been wearing bibs.
When I Lay in my cosy bed at night
I'll think of your hard boards,
With a single blanker to cover us,
And flees and lice in hordes.
Ironically, I'll think of how
You took our dog-tags from us,
'Nix soldat-civil' you said,
Smiling fanatically at us.
Yes, you gave us soup and enough black bread
To etch out a mere existence,
Enough to keep us wanting more
And weaken our resistance
How two of our number lost their lives
For lack of medical aid;
You wouldn't even give them food
To help save them from the grave
And then: after eight weeks spent in your filthy soul,
Which seemed to me like years,
The Luftwaffe came, took us away,
I felt like shedding tears
And so to all you Konzentrators,
A toast I offer thee:
Here's wishing you a happy life,
And to Hell with KLB
I have no picture of me delivering the speech, which is fine - it's about them.
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