It rained
that night in Germany
as soldiers marched in the dark
along overcrowded roads
in artificial moonlight,
as the 1st Battalion of the
Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
made their way to Mooshof.
It rained,
as the men huddled two to a trench,
silent, wet and cold, awaiting dawn,
too scared to notice hunger,
in slits dug into farmer’s fields,
where slippery rivers of mud
replaced their world
in the February cold.
It rained
shells flying overhead
as soldiers crept across muddy fields
toward the cluster of farmhouses,
enemy strongholds in
the tiny German town.
Then all hell broke loose
and many mothers lost their sons.
It rained
metal falling from the sky.
The platoon commander dead,
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens
led and inspired the four men left,
guiding their last tank
toward the enemy’s positions
and effecting their defeat.
It rained
blood upon the ground.
With the resistance broken,
enemy fled, captured or killed,
he headed off to report to command,
but an unseen sniper hidden well,
aimed with deadly accuracy,
and another mother’s son died.
It rained
salty tears on anguished faces.
The twenty-three year old hero
was laid to his untimely rest in
Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery,
Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
He never lived to wear
his Victoria Cross.
sept 2003
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens V.C.
born 21 May 1921 in Latchford, Ontario
raised in Porquis Junction, Ontario
Killed in action in WWII 26 Feb 1945
Mooshof, Germany
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
for his actions that day as
Infantry Platoon Sergeant
The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada.
Related Links:
The Mooshof Melee
Operation Blockbuster
The Queen's Own Rifles
Awarded by Poetic Constellations