I was asked to write something for the Ceremony on 31st May 2008 and have been requested to put it on this page. I am not a poet and this was from my heart so forgive the amateurish effort please. My thanks to Paul who read it on the day.

Dyan

Why does Nana cry?

As you come together on this special day,

My thoughts are with you from far way.

Thanks go to all for remembering the crew,

Who into this mountain in bad weather flew.

The Crew came from countrywide and over the Atlantic too

They were the ones Churchill called “those brave few”

They were from two two eight squadron, Coastal Command,

That kept us safe, as they flew over sea and land.

Some rest now in foreign fields, others in their homeland

But they will always be known as the crew of THE Sunder-land

Their families will always be grateful to one and all,

Who remember their men folk here on the Mountain in Donegal.

From my family came Flying Officer Vince Wareing,

He was dark and handsome and oh so caring.

His picture sat on the dresser, in a frame.

The family waited for him to come back, but he never came.

When the news came in forty four,

All there was, was a knock at the door.

Grandpa gasped and Nana cried,

All we knew was that Vince had died.

I never knew, where or how or when,

But I was only very little then.

Vince was young, just twenty eight,

Grandpa, Uncle, and Dad lost their best mate.

His family never got over the shock,

They never knew about the plaque in the rock

I often watched my Nan look to the sky,

And wondered, Why does my Nana cry?

Now the crew is finally complete,

Jim Gilchrist has taken the last seat.

The engines start up and all systems are go,

For the very last mission of DW one one oh

The radio crackles and a voice is heard, “DW110 calling Heavens Gate

Permission to land sir, sorry we’re late.”

Let us thank god that they lived, not that they died

For now I know, why my Nana cried.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

 From “Ode to the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon

Dedicated to the Crew of Sunderland DW110

and my Nana, Hannah Ann Kelly, Vince’s godmother.

Dyan Tucker

Paeroa New Zealand.