Forgive me, friends and neighbors, for conflating wars, here.

But I have just stopped to think of someone whose lyrics turn up,
now and again, on the Mudcat forum.
He was a World War II veteran, and his name was Michael Flanders.
You know him from Flanders and Swann.

Of course, the long shadow of the Great War loomed large,
it could not have done otherwise,
during Flanders's childhood and upbringing.
Regardless of his modest origins, he made it to Oxford
where he flourished in drama.
When the second War broke out, he was an able-bodied seaman.

He could not have foreseen how his life would be changed.
And Flanders was not one to complain, that I am aware of,
but he certainly had something to complain about.
I won't take it further off track on this thread,
some of you know what he survived and how he adapted.

What empathy he must have had for the Great War casualties and survivors.