I came across a handwritten poem today. The author of the poem is given at the bottom as Kay Freeman, who is my uncle, but the handwriting I believe to be that of Kay's mother, my grandmother, Ruby Kotter Freeman.
Kay was born in 1921, not long after World War I...or The Great War as it was called at that time. His school years came along well before World War II, so as a young person, World War I was the part of history he would have probably heard a lot about. His father had returned from France just a couple of years before he was born. Did he write this poem for school? Why did his mother copy it?
Does the original even still exist? We may never know.
I don't know if the spelling mistakes were Kay's or Ruby's. I don't know how old Kay was when he wrote it. I would imagine him as a school boy.
I have kept the original spelling.
Armistis Day
1.
Armistis day, you will remember
Comes on the 11 of November
This sure was a day of Joy
For every single soldier boy
2.
The whistles blew, the glad bells rang
And every where the people sang
The Boys were coming home at last
And everyone hoped very fast.
3.
But some of the boys were left behind
Their graves somewhere in France you’ll find
Marked with a cross of snowy white
Mid poppies red is a wonderful sight.
4.
To these brave boys we owe so much
Who saved us from the Germans cluch
And so each year on this glad day
Honor to these boys we pay
Kay Freeman
