3 Squadron POEMS

BUILD ME NO MONUMENT

1941-06.  SYRIA.  SERGEANT PILOT BAILLIE AND FLYING OFFICER TURNBULL
SEE ANCIENT RUINS AT BAALBEK.  [NEGATIVE BY G. SILK AWM 009006]

Written by David McNicoll, one of Australia's great newspapermen, who served during the Syrian campaign in 1941.

Build me no Monument, should my time come.
 

Please do not weep for me and waste your tears.
Write not my name on honour rolls of fame
To crumble with Man's memory through the years.
Wear no dark clothes, speak in no saddened voice,
Seeking rare virtues which did not exist...
 

Just let me lie under the cool sweet earth
And sleep in peace, where I will not be missed.
 

I ask one thing.  That in still far-off days
Someone who knew me should, in their daily round,
Suddenly pause; caught by some sight or sound,
Some glance, some phrase, some trick of memory's ways,
Which brings me to his mind.  Then I shall wait
Eager with hope; perhaps to hear:

"How great
If he were with us still."

Then, at the end,
All that I wish for, just:

"He was my friend."

3 Squadron POEMS