Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

A Poem to Agnes Louisa Devine Agnes Louisa Devine,
A Red Cross Nurse in WW1,
She married Charles Gray in Numurkah, and had a son named Charles,
Who is my father.

My Grandma Louisa never talked to me about the war,
A great sadness was always present with her.

She never talked about her brother,
And I never saw her attend the Anzac Day ceremony.
The war memorial was in the local park, Its was about 500m from Louisa’s house,
She would have walked past it to the Presbyterian church,
Or to go shopping.

On the mantle shelf,
She had ornaments from India,
and as a kid I remember some medals from the war.
She had a nurses uniform in a box,
but we never talked about the war.

I remember looking into her eyes,
As a 7 year old,
and great sadness I would see,
was it all about the war,
that was still part of her.

As a kid I rode my bike past that War Memorial in Numurkah,
maybe 10,000 times I did,
I never knew of the hero,
who’s name was engraved there,
and of my Grandmothers great love for her brother.
She would say to me, “how lucky we were”.
I didn’t realise what sacrifices they had made for me,

Now some 50 years later,
I now realise how important those sacrifices are to me,
and it is with heart felt love,
That I embrace my guardian angles’ love within me.

When my Grandmother past away,
Oh how I have grieved,
Until I could bear it no more,
For those long lost days,
For those hero’s of mine,
Who have given so much to me.

As the years have past,
The burden on my heart has grown,
Of no-one left to celebrate their lives,
For the hero’s they are,
The sacrifice they made for us,
So we could live the life we have today.

So this poem is my way,
Of reliving the past,
Of saying those things that have been always unsaid,
Of bringing peace to my heart.

May we rejoice in the memory of their lives,
and celebrate their achievements,

Accept them as our guardian angles, Knowing of the sacrifice that was made for us.
The sacrifice they made are not dead and gone,
But lives with us every day,
And has made the world a better place to be.

May we wear their medals with pride,
Speak their names fondly,
Keep a place for them in our hearts, Where our guardian angels may dwell, Until the day that we meet,
In heaven above.

To my loving Grandma, from your Grandson Keith, 10/4/12