Grandfather's Medals (CTG)

[ChrisGeorge]

Grandfather's Medals

from the Great War glimmer
in the wooden box, their
rainbowed ribbons drooping

over the wooden barricades,
gewgaws not given for heroism,
just for having served and survived,

his brass Lancs Fusiliers cap badge
with a Sphinx with cat-wafting tail,
symbolic of another war, another place.

Christopher T. George



Lancashire Fusiliers Cap Badge

[Gerry]

Those medals earned by your Grandfather's blood sweat and tears in that war that just devoured countless millions of brave men are as precious to you as any Victoria Cross given to another warrior. I have often thought of how many homes around the world today will those same bright ribbons and pressed metal be hidden away in tiny boxes that seldom see day light. I'm sitting here looking at my own Grandfather's medal in the little brass box he received as a POW back in 1914. I rub their cold metal between my fingers and think of my Grandfather as he proudly received them onto his broken frail body.
The courage of those men still amazes me.

[Kev]

Thanks for sharing them Chris.