We were young when we went to war and served our country
and will never forget the cold and heat, the hunger, fear, pain and misery
and the whole range of emotions that warriors experience,
but most of all we will never forget our mates, those who shared it all with us.

Yes we were young once, the years have taken away our youth
but nothing can ever take away the fact that we were soldiers,
and even more importantly that we were soldiers together.

We served together, laughed, cried, bled and lived with the constant reminders of death,
as soldiers do, but we were young and saw ourselves as invincible.
We knew then as we do now, that trust, absolute trust,
is the glue that cements the life long bond between men who have soldiered together.

The friendships we built as young men have become the brotherhood we share as old soldiers.
We went through much together, at times depending upon each other
for our very lives and often, when death was nearby,
all that sustained our efforts was the knowledge that we could rely on our mates.

Mateship is what keeps soldiers going long after their mind
has screamed to their bodies that it's time to quit, time to give in.
We argued and sometimes the arguments turned into fights but more often than not,
the fights finished with two mates collapsing with laughter at the absurdity of it all.

We're older now and many, far too many, of our mates are gone.
We were never invincible and that fact becomes clearer every day
as we experience the physical and psychological pains
that all old soldiers must accept and learn to live with.

To those that have gone before us we say,
"thanks cobber, you did your duty, you left your legacy, you made a difference."
We, the old soldiers that are left behind, for however long,
will ensure that while we live, so do you.

You are at peace now and although you are gone,
your names and faces are etched into our memory.
You will never be forgotten.

Written in memory of a soldier who died today, my mate, - Jimmy Griffiths. - 3 RAR Robert. S. Kearney. 1 June 2002

Jimmy Griffiths died on 1 June 2002 after a long battle with cancer.
Jim was the Sergeant who was shot out of the resupply chopper in the battle of Long Khan

^(c)copyright
1 June 2002

Robert. S. Kearney

We did our job