{"id":1328,"date":"2012-04-28T12:29:35","date_gmt":"2012-04-28T18:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2012-04-28T12:29:35","modified_gmt":"2012-04-28T18:29:35","slug":"the-408-squadron-groundcrew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/?p=1328","title":{"rendered":"The 408 Squadron Groundcrew"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 408 Squadron Groundcrew<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Again the evening dusk doth deepen into dark,<\/span><\/span>
\nAs the weary ground crew leave the aircraft, in its dispersal park,<\/span><\/span>
\nThey\u2019ve labored here since the early light of dawn,<\/span><\/span>
\nAnd soon the laden aircraft, once more, into the night is gone.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ve labored here, day long, to patch each wounded plane,<\/span><\/span>
\nThat returned to base in early morn; so it may fly again<\/span><\/span>
\nThis night, and carry forth its dreaded load of fearful death,<\/span><\/span>
\nPerhaps, to be delivered with the aircrew men\u2019s last breath.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These ground crew whose devotion to their plane does surely show; Do labor here each day, in rain or shine, in sleet, in hail or snow;<\/span><\/span>
\nThey\u2019ve seen so many of the air crews as at night they do depart,<\/span><\/span>
\nAnd in the morn they find a bleak dispersal, theirs, with a tearful, aching heart.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Betimes they see a young wife, now in her widow\u2019s weeds;<\/span><\/span>
\nSuch a sorry payment for her husband\u2019s gallant deeds,<\/span><\/span>
\nThe war had called him forth, and to this place he\u2019d bravely come;<\/span><\/span>
\nOne of the very many, who, to the German fury did succumb.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There were so very many, year over year, each name on name,<\/span><\/span>
\nWho had helped to build this squadron\u2019s fearsome fame,<\/span><\/span>
\nTo tell of the tons delivered, of the many targets struck,<\/span><\/span>
\nAnd of death, sometimes avoided, by a great, good stroke of luck<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And how these good, ground crew men would revel in the knowing,<\/span><\/span>
\nThat the aircrew\u2019s tour was over and now they are homeward going,<\/span><\/span>
\nNo one did count the endless, devoted hours these good ground crew did give<\/span><\/span>
\nTo ensure each plane was perfect so that the aircrew might just live.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So these fine ground crew worked each day of every season,<\/span><\/span>
\nProud unsung heroes that they were, and proud with much good reason,<\/span><\/span>
\nThey did a splendid job, with peerless work in every situation,<\/span><\/span>
\nStand tall, good men, and take the thanks of aircrew and your nation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But most of ,all, while you stand tall, the air crews get the glory,<\/span><\/span>
\nFor they are in the sky while bullets fly, and so the end of story,<\/span><\/span>
\nBut they do know, as you do know, for even the best aircrew,<\/span><\/span>
\nWithout your skills, devotion too, no aircraft ever flew.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wally Kasper<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 408 Squadron Groundcrew Again the evening dusk doth deepen into dark, As the weary ground crew leave the aircraft, in its dispersal park, They\u2019ve labored here since the early light of dawn, And soon the laden aircraft, once more, into the night is gone. They\u2019ve labored here, day long, to patch each wounded plane, That returned to base in early morn; so it may fly again This night, and carry forth its dreaded load of fearful death, Perhaps, to be delivered with the aircrew men\u2019s last breath. These ground…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1330,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions\/1330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}