{"id":32178,"date":"2016-04-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/a-soldier-died-today-2\/"},"modified":"2016-04-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T00:00:00","slug":"a-soldier-died-today-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/a-soldier-died-today-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Soldier Died Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Larry Vaincourt<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,<\/p>\n

and he sat around the RSL telling stories of the past,<\/p>\n

of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done<\/p>\n

in his exploits with his cobbers; they were heroes everyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And tho’ sometimes to his neighbours, his tales became a joke,<\/p>\n

all his Digger mates, they listened, for they knew where of he spoke.<\/p>\n

But we’ll hear his tales no longer, for old Bill has passed away…<\/p>\n

and the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,<\/p>\n

for he lived an ordinary and quietly uneventful life.<\/p>\n

Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,<\/p>\n

and the world won’t note his passing, ‘though a soldier died today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,<\/p>\n

while thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.<\/p>\n

Papers tell their whole life stories from the time that they were young.<\/p>\n

But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land,<\/p>\n

a guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?<\/p>\n

Or the ordinary fellow who in times of war and strife,<\/p>\n

goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives,<\/p>\n

are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.<\/p>\n

While the ordinary soldier, who offers up his all,<\/p>\n

is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is so easy to forget them, for it was so long ago.<\/p>\n

That the old ” Bills ” of our Country went to battle but we know,<\/p>\n

it wasn’t the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,<\/p>\n

who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Should you find yourself in danger with your enemies at hand,<\/p>\n

would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?<\/p>\n

Or would you prefer a soldier who has sworn to defend…<\/p>\n

His home, His Kin and Country and would fight until the end?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin<\/p>\n

but his presence should remind us we may need his like again.<\/p>\n

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part,<\/p>\n

is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we cannot grant him honour while he’s here to hear the praise,<\/p>\n

then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.<\/p>\n

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper it could say,<\/p>\n

Our country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sent to Jeremy Cordeaux by Arthur E Wall. You can find more battlefield verse here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: POWER STAR APOLOGISES TO FANS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: ADELAIDE MAYOR PREDICTS ELECTRIC CARS \u2013 SOONER THAN YOU THINK<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Larry Vaincourt   He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast, and he sat around the RSL telling stories of the past, of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done in his exploits with his cobbers; they were heroes everyone.   And tho’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-32178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-show"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Soldier Died Today - FIVEAA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/a-soldier-died-today-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Soldier Died Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Larry Vaincourt   He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast, and he sat around the RSL telling stories of the past, of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done in his exploits with his cobbers; they were heroes everyone.   And tho’ […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/a-soldier-died-today-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FIVEAA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/1395FIVEaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-19T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/digger.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Ashdown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@1395FIVEaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@1395FIVEaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Ashdown\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/show\\\/a-soldier-died-today-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/show\\\/a-soldier-died-today-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tim Ashdown\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c9993afbb4e9c76944cb880fa918b687\"},\"headline\":\"A Soldier Died Today\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-19T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/show\\\/a-soldier-died-today-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":511,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/show\\\/a-soldier-died-today-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/digger.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Show\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/show\\\/a-soldier-died-today-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\\\/show\\\/a-soldier-died-today-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Soldier Died Today - 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