I had just turned twenty-two

When I found out that I might be conscripted

I did not want to go to war

And die the victim of a snipers bullet

On a dull wet Wednesday afternoon

I also had no problem with the Germans

Having visited the country frequently

All my friends were in a panic to join up

But it was not for me as I felt I was worth more

I considered registering as an objector

But I would be locked up away from Ruth

My father owned a farm in North Wales

Perhaps I could get involved in essential war work

But that would be long shot as people knew

That I could not tell a farm from a frog

Dad was not even a farmer

Which was worked by another family

The time was getting nearer which troubled me

So I accepted an invitation from Rupert Kerr

To stay on his estate in Somerset

It would give me time to think clearly

But the visit changed my life

And accounts for my now noticeable limp

Whilst there I chatted with Rupert

Who said that his father night be able

To pull a few strings and get me a cushy posting

This was an option but I was still nervous

As even people with cushy postings risked being killed

I was almost envious of Rupert who suffered from epilepsy

However on the day before I returned home I had an accident

It all started so quietly as over breakfast Millicent

Informed both of us that she would not be able to go rabbit hunting

But she still had plans to make a rabbit stew that evening

She noted that there was a problem as no rabbit equalled no stew

To be truthful I disliked killing rabbits as they never did me any harm

But Millicent’s Rabbit Stews were legendary so I gave in

And that was the decision that possibly saved my life

To put it bluntly I managed to blow part of my foot off

I tripped over a tree root and grievously injured myself

The country lost interest in me which was to my liking

I spent a considerable time in a wheelchair and was quite useless

The war passed me by without so much as a bang

I became a teacher at a small public school in Norfolk

And married Ruth when the hostilities faded

We lived happily in a cottage next to a rural railway

I soon discovered a once hidden love for trains

But I still limped which always reminded me

Of how lucky I had been or unlucky as some might say

My disablement also put me off rabbit stew for life