Position:Home>Poetry> Vets does this poem touch you?
Question: Vets does this poem touch you!?
My dad served in WW2 & this was his favorite poem!.!.!. I really never thought about it until I became a Vet & my sons, being vets now, find it haunting!. The turret gunner in the belly of the B-17 & B-24 was often trapped there if the plane was damaged & was sure to die during a belly landing!.
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze!.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters!.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose!.
-- Randall Jarrell
Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
It sorta does but I'm not a vet!.!.!.!. but!.!.!. My great uncle was a WW2 vet (he died back in 1990)!. He was an airplane mechanic stationed in England!. When I was a youngster I always asked him to tell me stories and he would always say "No!." One day after a lot of badgering he cracked and told me that he once saw a bomber do an emergency landing (no landing gear) with the ball turret gunner still trapped in the ball turret!. He said to me, with an old mans face and sad eyes, "I looked and I saw his face!. I saw his eyes before he died!." That was the last time I asked him for any stories!. I can't imagine what that must have been like for him to see that!. May they both rest in peace!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
If it does not then you have no soul!. Www@QuestionHome@Com