me my mate and my sheep

Me My Mate and the Sheep
I was eighteen when I heard the call, my dad and mum did not want me to go,
Dad said if he made up his mind, she said we are talking about our son,
He is the only child I have so dad said no as well,
I went into town and signed on the line,
Mother cried all the time, not thinking of life but of hot metal coming toward me.
The letter arrived and I had to go, mother clung to me and said please take care and come on home
My dad hugged me and said do your best son, I said that I would,
Then training began, the question asked was what can you do?
I picked up a gun and from that day I was a sniper they said.
The guns got bigger and they gave me a mate, to help with distance and wind,
We got on from the start and then they said we had to go, training was finished,
When you look at the enemy think they are roos you will be fine.
Hot arid desert we went too, and got used to the surround,
Picking up sounds and idiosyncrasies of the locals, useful for later.
Firing a gun in desert of sand trying to keep covered so no one could see,
That was my mate, and me covered in battledress based on sand,
The targets were put up and I fired at them further and further away,
Until one day they said you have a job to do, and off we went
Day after day week after week then year after year.
You got letters not even written by me, but letters that said I was good and well,
But we never could tell you where our feet would stand not even describe the dunes and the sand.
Then they said it was over time to go home, I read all the letters that my mate had written so that I knew where your questions would come from.
Home was different, a different type of sand, every sound and I jumped wondering who it was?
Took me two weeks to come home to the farm, and into your arms.
Dad was there too smiling all round his face, I had made it home!
I had a few scratches and scrapes on the way
My girlfriend wanted to see the scars but that was for us nobody but us
Now we get to discharge and life on the farm,
Time to settle down and raise a family now I am grown
I think every day of my mate and me,
The guns they gave us and what we did but again, that is for my mate and me
Not my family and me, my mate and me.
I am sending this long letter mum as I still cannot talk about it,
But hope that by the end you will understand why I did what I did
For our country mum!!
So that we do not ever forget those who did not come home,
Like my mate, he is in the desert sand mum smiling at me as he passed over to the other side,
Love you mum and dad, love you Joan and the little tike, now it’s time to go and feed the sheep,
Please forgive as you read this letter I just have write it is no good saying.
Goodbye Africa G’Day sheep.

this poem is part of a series i was asked to write about the battle of Tobruk in WW 2 when the Australian army took Tobruk from the Germans.
It was the longest single battle of world war 2
I wrote a whole series of them as i am an Honorary member of their regiment Association having painted on glass their Regimental Badge