The ‘Chocolate Soldiers’ of New Guinea
By A. E. Lockrey
The heat and the haze of the jungle
Enshroud them on every side,
The dank and the damp so insistent
They contend with in youthful pride:
Dark terrors are there in the lurking,
In shady concealment they hide,
But the defiant Chocolate Soldiers
Have suffered and bled and died.
Through the trackless mountain passes,
Through the deadly swampland drear,
In the slush of endless mudlands
They plod; and the enemy near
Is crafty, and cunning and silent,
But the Chocos have no fear
As, shedding their blood in the jungle
They fight for their country so dear.
And who will dare with sneering
To say they cannot face,
All this, and more if needs be
For the honour of their race?
And how can mind forget it,
And how can time efface,
Such valour must be given
In history’s page a place.
Wonderful piece! Very well done 😀
Yes I liked it
I don’t get the chocolate thing. What does it mean Jo-Anne? ❤
Diana xo
Wondered if someone would ask me that, they were called chocolate soldiers because some people thought they would melt at t he first sign of battle
oh that’s horrible Jo-Anne. People didn’t have faith in them?
I had to look up what inspired this poem and wow to both the poem and the inspiration. Amazing. Once again, your love of historical posts has again exposed me to an amazing story. Well, I don’t mean “exposed” in the terms that I’m flashing a historical figure, but you knew that…I think.
I can just picture you going around flashing people with historical bits on your body, I wonder can one get arrested for flashing historical bits