UNSUNG HEROINE

Climbing over glass and rubble
A young girl scrambled, bleeding, scared;
She had always taken so much trouble
To go out neat and well prepared -
But Hitler caught her out that day.
Hatless, shoeless, she battled on;
Childrens cries showed her the way -
An air raid shelter got the bomb.
Her blonde hair streaked with bloody red
She crawled into a gaping hole
Pulled out six children. Three were dead.
All crushed, their bodies black as coal.

The medics took the kids away.
She went home, washed, and went to bed.
Her mum asked ‘where were you today?’
For many years she never said
How selflessly she had behaved;
Nor did her mother ever know
That three young children she had saved -
Her right leg cut from knee to toe.
Next day back to the factory
to make munitions. Life went on.
But she couldn’t lose that memory,
For the scars have never gone.

Now after more than sixty years
I hold her fragile body tight –
My Father weeps: I share his tears
His wife, my Mum, has died tonight.
‘Goodbye my sweetheart, I love you’
Dad whispers, but she does not hear.
What Nazi Bombers failed to do
Cruel Cancer managed in one year.
I wash her gently, brush her hair,
Clean nightie and a fresh white sheet:
Look for the scar – it is not there!
Both legs are perfect, pale and neat.

There’ll be a grieving crowd next week
When we walk with her to the grave.
My Dad, kind warrior, will speak
And tell us how she was so brave,
How she looked after everyone :
And when her health began to fail
She held her head up, carried on.
Then he’ll recite to us this tale
Of gallantry beyond the call;
And we will weep and smile with him
As he stands proud and tells us all: -
My Mother is a heroine.