If anyone has seen the movie "Memphis Belle", there's a poem that the guy named Danny reads to all of his crew members right before they fly their 25th and final mission. The whole poem, I don't think, was actually used in the movie. He only recited parts of it. Also, the poem wasn't even written during World War 2. It was written during World War 1 by an Irish soldier I'm pretty sure. I think this is one of my favorite war poems. I dunno if any of you like em, but I just think they sound cool. Anyways, here it is if you wanna read it:

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight, I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

W.B.Yeats, 1865 - 1939

If you remember, on the flight home Danny comes to briefly and thinking he's about die wants to clear his conscience and so says that the poem was by Yeats.

Why wouldn't a soldier of WWII know of a poem from WWI? I was born many years later than that and know the works of Sigfried Sassoon and others.

Originally Posted by Charge 7

If you remember, on the flight home Danny comes to briefly and thinking he's about die wants to clear his conscience and so says that the poem was by Yeats.

Why wouldn't a soldier of WWII know of a poem from WWI? I was born many years later than that and know the works of Sigfried Sassoon and others.

Yeah, I remember when he's injured and like he all of a sudden jumps up and says who the real author of it was or something. Why are you asking why a soldier from World War 2 know of a poem from World War 1? I was just saying that it was weird how they used a poem from World War 1 in a World War 2 movie. Although it had to do with flight. Maybe they should have just made a new poem for it.