HOW PTE. LOOSEMORE WON THE V.C. -
August 11th, 1917.
1. Just listen to my story,
It will fill your hearts with glee,
Telling how Private Loosemore
Fought for his V.C.
2. He was one of "Kitchener's men",
Who had faced those deadly shells.
A lad who had "done his bit",
Out at the Dardenelles.
3. But here he is in Flanders,
Helping to strafe the Huns,
Amid the toil and strife
And the rattle of Britain's guns.
4. Somewhere near to Ypres,
Against the Steenbook Siding,
Up to the knees in mud,
We find the 8th West Riding.
5. Waiting there for morning,
In shell holes they had to stay,
Until that awful moment
Just at the break of day.
6. Loosemore was with his section
Which roughly numbered six;
He knew the good old "Dukes"
Would never be in a fix.
7. Our guns opened out at last,
Smashing the German defences;
Shells came over in hundreds,
On to the German trenches.
8. A shout: "It's over the top!"
At grips with the murderous Hun;
Bombs, lead and steel are flashing,
Also the Maxim gun.
9. Loosemore got into a shell hole,
But crash! down came a shell;
This was an awful moment,
For two of his pals had fell.
10. On came the German forces
Every man bent on battle,
But before they got to that post
Our Lewis gun started to rattle.
11. The Gernans were coming fast
Against our hero's fire,
But Loosemore mowed them down
And dropped them on the wire.
12. Bang! went a German bomb,
Scattering the bloodstained land,
Blowing the Lewis gun
Straight from our hero's hand.
13. But still he carried on,
As some German bombs he threw;
He had held that British post
And stuck to it like glue.
14, His bombs were now all finished,
So the Germans came galore,
But Loosemore drew his pistol
As the Allemand gave a roar.
15. They had now got face to face,
The Boche with his bayonet bright;
Crack! went that little pistol -
It was quite a terrible sight.
16. The Boche fell to the ground
With his hand upon his head;
But the others shouted "Mercy",
And to their stronghold fled.
17. We all are proud of Loosemore,
We give to him our hand'
Never shall we forget
How he made that gallant stand.
18. We leave the rest to Sheffield
Where we think you'll all agree
That Private Arnold Loosemore
Fought hard for his V.C.
Composed by Corporal H. Prior, 8th West Riding Regiment, Sept. 16th, 1917.
With permission from Private A. Loosemore, 8th West Riding Regiment
This page was last updated on 13/09/06 10:57