The Archibald Baxter Memorial Trust 

“My courage failed
My strength did not endure
I broke down frightened and alone.
I did not sacrifice my life,
It was taken from me
As there I lay half mad and trembling.
Please no bugle call, no flag, no volley
I died human.” Leunig.

I’m not there to read this poem by Leunig,
But he speaks my mind.

I was shot in war,
my body broken,
bloodied and dismembered.
I never made it back
and have no grave
to mark the spot.
My family never found me
And I remain in Turkish dust.

A hundred years on,
My body, my blood,
my dreams,
were not given for you
in remembrance of me.
They have been expropriated
for a national communion.

Please don't do this in my name.

I want no muffled walk, dawn parades,
Fawning Prime Ministers, and Governors General.
I loathe last posts and know there will be
No reveille.

I don’t want young children
Imagining
that being killed in action
Is any more glorious than being killed
in a car crash..

I don't want white crosses in school grounds
Youth ambassadors at Gallipoli
National lies about sacrifice,
freedom and democracy.

Please don't lie in peace about
What I felt in war.
Please don't use my shortened
Life for your political advantage.
Please let me be what I was;
A man of my time,
A man who knew no better,
A man killed for no purpose,
A man who died hopeful
That others
will refuse to do the same.

Please do that in my name.