Ismarus

As evening fell on one June date, a new Captain relayed
“Your men are needed across the field, in the dark wood, there waits the gruesome horde of Valhalla, Germans sent from the Kaiser who wish to have France for a meal.”

Sergeant Ulysses marched to his trench and gathered his flock. He made light of the events, and told them all
“We shall be heroes, even if we fall.”
He knew some would not make it across the pastures alive, and fewer still would be able to fight in the dark wood of Belleau.

Keeping themselves cocooned at the bottom of the trench
Waiting for the word,
The Shout!
“Over the top boys!” and then a whistle would sound shrill in the air to signal them to clamber out.

Waiting became harsh as dawn drew nigh.
“Patience,” whispered Sergeant Ulysses, “Not until the last star vanishes from the sky.”
He checked each man,
Rifle and kit,
For across No-Man’s-Land they would sprint.

Beyond the ditch Ulysses gazed and saw the first signs of morning’s rays.
“Up! Up! All of you now! Huns are waiting across the fields we must plow!”

They rose en masse, and heaved over the side of the dank, deep trench, and began to trot towards the Prussian stench.

As they ran bullets whizzed by, but Sergeant Ulysses encouraged the try,
“Make for the trees, to the guns pay no mind.”
Many fell, but others took heed, and soon they were enshrouded within the gloom of oaks, and hemlocks, and so began the Battle of Belleau Wood.

Germans fired from behind machine guns nested safely within mounds of dirt and wire, Sergeant Ulysses mustered his men and soon more joined the fray.
They toiled under a constant barrage, but never did they shirk or fall away, for each one wished to go home a hero one day.

The fight continued, more bloody with each passing moon. The officers decided the conflict must end soon; they would make one last assault to expel the German army and to sound their death knell.