With the Allies to Berlin

(These verses have been sent from the firing line by Sergt. Woollard,[1] of the 10^th Essex Regiment[2].)

On the road in stricken Flanders 

There’s a place that’s vacant still;

There’s a rifle lying silent,

There’s a uniform to fill.

Those at home will hate to lose you,

But the march will soon begin—

On the roads through stricken Belgium

With “The Essex” to Berlin.

In your home securely resting,

Are you there content to stay

While the others guard your honor,

While the Germans toast “The Day”!

For your King and Country need you,

And we want to count you in—

On the roads through stricken Belgium

With the Allies to Berlin.

In the lonely wayside graveyards

Sleep the boys whose day is done;

Don’t you hear their voices calling,

To complete the work begun?

There are ghostly fingers beckoning,

There are victories yet to win—

On the roads through stricken Belgium

With the Allies to Berlin.

When from Mons they fought each footstep,

When their lips with pain were dumb,

‘Twas their hope which held the trenches,

Always thinking you would come;

Thro’ the frozen hell of winter,

Thro’ the shrapnel’s racking din—

They have waited, never doubting

That you’d join them to Berlin.

---

[1] Flight Sergeant T. J. Woollard, from Blackmore, Essex, England was an aviator.  He survived the war, and won the British Distinguished Service Medal.  (Source: Blackmore Area Local History - blackmorehistory.blogspot.com)

[2] The 10^th Essex never did make it to Berlin, but it did serve valiantly “on the roads of stricken Belgium” and in France.  The group distinguished itself in the battles of the Somme (1916 & 1918); Arras (’17 & ’18); Cambrai (’17 & ’18); and Ypres (’17).  (Source: History of the Essex Regiment - ancestry.com/)