‘You Never Came Home’ Article By Peter Barnes.
The video above, titled ‘You Never Came Home’, is a memorial to Australians who died on the Western Front, during WW1.
Around 300,000 Australians served on the Western Front during WW1.
From 1916 to 1918, 46,000 died and more than 132,000 were wounded. In this period of time, Australia lost nearly half of all the people killed in all wars. It was a shocking time for Australia with a population just under 5 million. There were not many families in Australia that weren’t touched by the tragedy of the Western Front.
Many soldiers were wounded more than once. About 11,000 soldiers have no known grave. Australian nurses caught trench diseases such as typhus and dysentery.
Many who came home died not long after due to suffering horrendous wounds and being gravely ill. Many were totally and permanently incapacitated with lost limbs, shell shock, blindness and severely disfigured.
The words ‘You never came home’, in a sense, tries to give some perspective from the loved ones of the soldiers. Many lived in hope for a while that their loved one was still alive, especially those who were reported missing on the battlefield. It was absolutely heart-breaking and unimaginable shocking times for many Australian families during this war.
I created and produced the video and also wrote the words for the video.
Here are the words to ‘You Never Came Home’…
You never came home
We will never see you smile again
We will never hear your voice
You went to war
You were brave
You were our nation’s best
But you never came home
We got the news that you were lost
And we lived in hope for a while
But as time passed
We knew
We will never see you again
The crowd waved and cheered
As you marched away
To a place no-one could imagine
Your name is remembered
Your sacrifice honoured
But we just wanted you home with us
The door to open and see you there
We thought we heard you near
But it was just the wind in the trees
A few of your mates did come home
But some were very unwell and died too soon
We wanted you to come home
To live
To love
And to be loved
But you never came home
“‘But we just wanted you home with us’. So tragic for the loss of young Men and Women. Poignantly presented with the storyline, and their photos. Lest we forget. Thank You , Peter.” – YouTube comment.
