The Awestruck Liverpool Drummer…
There is discomfort. A hint of despair.
And the drummer, awkwardly seated
Upon a rugged boulder
Atop the detritus of war
Displays abject horror in a clear expression
Of personal distress in his wide, wild eyes.
His head turns towards a skirmish,
Yet sticks continue to beat out a charge…
There is anguish. The terror of la guerre.
And the drummer, his spirit undefeated,
Looks over one shoulder
At the chaos of war.
Duty is paramount in his precarious profession
Of stress, of hell and of death’s futile cries.
His rhythm is consistent, his adrenalin skittish
But his sticks continue to beat out the charge…
Pete Ray
10th October 2022
A drummer of the Liverpool King’s Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Dettingen, Bavaria in July 1743.
British, Austrian and Hanoverian troops succeeded against superior numbers of French soldiers, under the duc de Noailles but although this battle was considered a victory, it apparently had little effect upon the overall outcome of the War of Austrian Succession.
This battle was the last in which a British monarch led troops into battle, for King George II and his son the Duke of Cumberland were present.
The dramatic statue is positioned on the memorial in St John’s Gardens, Liverpool…
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