Darwin, bombed by Japanese planes
Two-hundred and forty enemy gains
Small and undefended Darwin shone
Men sang Waltzing Matilda, their song
Peaceful place for minding supply lines
Japanese knew fuel and TNT stored finds
Flying low the planes strafed ships, all sites
Bombing and destroying in combined strikes
Desperate attempts to quench the flames
Oil slicks on watery graves of ships' remains
Two hundred and fifty lives lost that day
Men, burnt, maimed; skeletons some say
Women survived, children fell to ignition
Japanese marauders fulfilled their mission
Cruel bastards left nothing to see
Heavy smoke, oil fires gobbled the sea
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Author Notes
Contest entry for Rhyming Poem: Today February 19, we remember the Japanese bombing of Darwin in 1942. Way up in Northern Australia, Darwin was a small town manned by a few soldiers and families, not expected to be attacked. Today, a thriving community. Primarily a fuel dump for our troops fighting the enemy. The planes came in with one mission, destroy the fuel and TNT stores held there. My dad was training in Townsville, waiting to be shipped to Darwin or New Guinea - fortunately, he was stationed in PNG for nearly four years - he came home unscathed.
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