With thanks to The Skipper's War website of the Dragon School, Oxford for finding this poet for us
David was born in Durham in 1893. His parents were Anglican church Minister the Rev. George Gibson Brown and his wife, Nelly Brown, nee Hardman. At the time of David’s death, his Father was Rector of St. Mary's Church, Bedford.
After winning a scholarship to Marlborough, David went up to Oxford University to Balliol College to read ‘Greats’. When war broke out, he joined up and was commissioned into the 6th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment.
David was reported wounded and missing on 16 July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He is recorded as having gone out into No Man’s Land with a sergeant to reconnoitre. The sergeant was subsequently found dead but Captain Westcott Brown’s body was not found. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier and Face 2 C and 3 A.
“Two Voices” a poem by Capt. David Westcott Brown (Leicestershire Regiment)
“The roads are all torn” ; “but the sun’s in the sky,”
“The houses are waste” ; “but the day is all fair,”
“There’s death in the air” ; “and the larks are on high,”
“Though we die – ” ; “it is spring-time, what do we care?”
“The gardens are rank” ; “but the grass is still green,”
“The orchards are shot-torn” ; “there’s a bloom on the trees,”
“There’s war all around” ; “yet is nature serene,”
“There’s danger” ; “we’ll bear it, fanned by the breeze.”
“Some are wounded” ; “they rest, and their glory is known,”
“Some are killed” ; “there’s peace for them under the sod,”
“Men’s homes are in peril” ; “their souls are their own,”
“The bullets are near us” ; “not nearer than God.”
Sources: Find my past, Free BMD and
https://skipperswar.com/2016/07/29/july-29th-1916/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205023698
The Menin Gate Memorial is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders, which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and built by the Imperial War Graves Commission (since renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), the Menin Gate Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1927. It is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient during World War I whose graves are unknown.
“The Menin Gate at Midnight” by Australian Artist Will Longstaff (1879 – 1953)
Will Longstaff enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the outbreak of the First World War and was injured in the Gallipoli campaign. In October 1915 he joined a remount unit and served in France and Egypt before being evacuated to England in 1917. In England, he began drawing again and was trained in the art of camouflage. During his time in Egypt, Longstaff had made images of the ANZAC Mounted Division and the other units. Upon his appointment as an Official War Artist in 1918 he produced numerous works during the final campaigns of the Western Front.
On the night of July 24th 1927, Artist Will Longstaff painted his “Menin Gate at Midnight” in one sitting. He had been so moved by the Memorial’s unveiling ceremony that afterwards during a walk along Menin Road he claimed to have had visions of the soldiers’ spirits rising from the surrounding fields.
