Falling Into Oblivion Poem by Gert Strydom

We were only eighteen
and just matriculated
when the call up papers came
and we went to the army
by troop train.

The die was cast
and our lives
changed all to fast
from that first military train ride.

We were paid very little
and trained at basic camp
and trained again
and sent to war.

Some of us died
and some survived
and was changed
by what happened there,
but today
that time and place
and all of that
are falling into oblivion
as if the sacrifices made
was all in vain.