Dedicated to The Unknown Warrior and In Memory of All Who Fell in The Great War, 1914-1918
Part One
November 10th 1920
Here on the shores of Dover
Gazing across the sea
Who is this crowd of people?
And what do they hope to see?
Ah, silently in the distance
A vessel is drawing nigh
Guarded by six destroyers
Their white ensign floats half-mast high
There on the deck is something
Lying in simple state
Covered with wreaths and crosses
It is for this, the crowd wait
They see as it slides o’er the water
And nearer comes to the land,
With head bowed low, o’er his rifle reversed
A single sentry stands
Guarding all that is left
Of one who gave his life
For King, for Home and Country
In that ne’er forgotten strife
A dull boom rolls o’er the waiting town
As the vessel reached the pier,
Bearing the Unknown Warrior
Symbol of thousands so dear
Hidden with masses of flowers
Guarded with sailors four,
The crowd in breathless silence wait
Till they bring that Symbol ashore
It maybe that unknown warrior
Was a son of lowly birth,
But the greatest of honours were paid him
That ever was known on earth
Because he here represents
Britain’s glorious dead,
The thousands who, side by side
For Britain fought and bled
No funeral dirge was heard
As they bore him to the land,
The “Land of Hope and Glory”
Was proudly played by the band
And thus he was greeted with honours
Fit for the highest of all,
Greeted by many comrades
Honoured by great and small
The cortege is slowly moving
To the station where there awaits
A carriage in which the brave hero
The journey to London will take
All night that unknown warrior
In London City will lay,
Guarded by his comrades
Awaiting the break of day.
Part Two
November 11th 1920
Today the unknown warrior
Will be reverently laid to rest,
May his soul, for the life he gave
Be numbered among the blest
Slowly the cortege is moving
Towards the Cenotaph,
Where thousands of people are waiting
To watch the Unknown pass
Here while it rested, the King
On the coffin placed a wreath,
Paying respect and honour
To the symbol that lay beneath
After a Prayer, and that grand old hymn
“Oh God Our Help in Ages Past”,
The King unrolled the Standard
That had veiled The Cenotaph
And thousands of souls went to meet their God
In silent and humble prayer,
That health and strength might be granted
To those who had given their share
For many had given their loved ones
And many had given their all
To swell that mighty number
When their King and Country called
Once more the unknown warrior
Is borne slowly on his way
And men of all nations followed
United their homage to pay
For that body lying so silent
Under the old Union Jack,
Today represents to the nation
Their thousands who ne’er came back
Now they have reached The Abbey
That place of historic fame,
Wherein they inter that brave warrior
With honours, but unknown name
The lesson that England should learn
From this great and tragic sight,
That not one of the warriors must want
If disabled in that great fight
Hundreds of such are living
And shame would it be to tell,
If England forgot our heroes
Who fought in that war as well
If the unknown dead could speak
Methinks we should hear them say,
Brethren, Comrades, forget not
The disabled living today
We for our King and Country
Paid the supreme sacrifice
But they, have given for you
What to them, is more than life.
Florence Lily Jones
These two poems were written by my Great Grandmother Florence Lily Jones in November 1920 and transcribed a hundred later by my sister because she had been so moved by the voice of someone so close who had witnessed those events. Florence was 42 yrs old in 1920, her only son – our maternal grandfather – had fought in, and returned from the Great War.