This was the shining green canal
Where we came two by two
Walking at combat-interval.
Such trees we never knew.

The day was early June, the ground
Was soft and bright with dew.
Far away the guns did sound,
But here the sky was blue.

The sky was blue, but there a smoke
Hung still above the sea
Where the ships together spoke
To towns we could not see.

Could you have seen us through a glass
You would have said a walk
Of farmers out to turn the grass,
Each with his own hay-fork.

The watchers in their leopard suits
Waited till it was time,
And aimed between the belt and boot
And let the barrel climb.

I must lie down at once, there is
A hammer at my knee.
And call it death or cowardice,
Don't count again on me.

Everything's all right, Mother,
Everyone gets the same
At one time or another.
It's all in the game.

I never strolled, nor ever shall,
Down such a leafy lane.
I never drank in a canal,
Nor ever shall again.

There is a whistling in the leaves
And it is not the wind,
The twigs are falling from the knives
That cut men to the ground.

Tell me, Master-Sergeant,
The way to turn and shoot.
But the Sergeant's silent
That taught me how to do it.

O Captain, show us quickly
Our place upon the map.
But the Captain's sickly
And taking a long nap.

Lieutenant, what's my duty,
My place in the platoon?
He too's a sleeping beauty,
Charmed by that strange tune.

Carentan O Carentan
Before we met with you
We never yet had lost a man
Or known what death could do.

~ Louis Simpson

Today marks the 67th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, which is why I decided to post the poem above.  Carentan is a small, rural town in France that became a critical point of capture for the Allies after they landed on the beaches.  It was up to the 101st Airborne Division to take over the town from the Germans, who had a very strong position of defense there. 

On June 10, four days after the landings, the division was successful. And the poem above was written by one of the soldiers who witnessed it, Louis Simpson.  The poet served with Easy Company and was on active duty in France, Belgium, Germany and Holland. 

The division’s success enabled the Allies to have a unified front that stretched from Omaha to Utah Beach, to three other lodgements east of Utah.  And they were able to hold onto Carentan despite a strong counterattack from the Germans three days later, which is known as Battle of Bloody Gulch.

Photo: The grave site of a fallen American solider in Carentan.