Drown

XIV: Some Mother's Son

Monday 29th September 1952
Ajax, Toronto, Canada
NARRATOR'S POV
Stephen's Funeral

Today is a sad day for us all, because we are needing to bury Stephen after he was killed in South Korea eleven days earlier. It is really upsetting for all of us, because not only have Deryck and I lost our only child, Ruby has lost her husband and James, Christopher and their unborn sister have lost their father too. I now regret letting Stephen join the RCAF when he was 17 because of that, his life of 30 years has been cut short from serving his country in a foreign place; when he was in England fighting in the Battle of Britain twelve years ago, I was constantly on edge when he was over there. Even more so when I got the telegram to say that he almost drowned in the River Thames and had been took to St Thomas' Hospital in Whitehall, then had to undergo the Thoracentesis surgery to remove the putrid water from his lungs. And, now he has again served his country proud by going to war in South Korea, where he has of course been unfortunately killed in action but he died doing what he loved at least, flying his plane. After the burial, everyone else went away with the rest of the crowd, leaving the five of us standing next to the fresh pile of dirt covering the coffin situated six feet underground and the brand new headstone which has all the usual information on it, his full name, his date of birth, his date of death and that he has served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. His headstone looks something like this:

HERE LIES A PILOT Who SERVED HIS COUNTRY WITH PRIDE

MAJOR. STEPHEN-PAUL THOMAS WHIBLEY

10th DECEMBER 1921 - 18th SEPTEMBER 1952

SERVED IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN (10th JULY 1940 - 14th JULY 1940)
SERVED IN THE KOREAN WAR (5th SEPTEMBER 1952 - 18th SEPTEMBER 1952)
AGED 30 YEARS.
With the funeral now over, the harsh reality of Stephen's permanent absence washes over us as we go our separate ways, Deryck and I have lost our son of thirty short years and Ruby has lost her husband of eleven years so he has left a gaping hole in everyone's hearts, not just the three of us but Dave, Jay, Frank, Tom, James and Christopher too.

Some mother's son lies in a field
Someone has killed some mother's son today
Head blown up by some soldier's gun
While all the mothers stand and wait
Some mother's son ain't coming home today
Some mothers son ain't got no grave
Two soldiers fighting in a trench
One soldier glances up to see the sun
And dreams of games he played when he was young
And then his friend calls out his name
It stops his dream and as he turns his head
A second later he is dead
Some mother's son lies in a field
Back home they put his picture in a frame
But all dead soldiers look the same
While all the parents stand and wait
To meet their children coming home from school
Some mother's son is lying dead
Somewhere someone is crying
Someone is trying to be so brave
But still the world keeps turning
Though all the children have gone away
Some mother's son lies in a field
But in his mother's eyes he looks the same
As on the day he went away
They put his picture on the wall
They put flowers in the picture frame
Some mothers memory remains
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All rights go to: The Kinks
Written by: Raymond Douglas Davies
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