[TomVrille]

What could be more incongruous than two men best known as poets in the midst of war?

The first, Alfred Joyce Kilmer is best remembered as the author of Trees, first published in 1914. Although a family man, and thus exempt from the draft, Kilmer was moved to volunteer as a private in the 7th Regiment, New York National Guard, when the United Staes entered the war. He later managed a transfer to the “Fighting 69th”, with the aid of the legendary Father Duffy. Shipped out to France, Kilmer rose quickly to the rank of Sergeant, serving as an observer on the Regimental Intelligence Staff. Although not required to perform any front line duty in this position, he volunteered to take the place of a Divisional Adjutant killed in action the day before. Kilmer was himself killed in action by a sniper’s bullet on 30 July 1918.

The next man, Robert W. Service, is one of my personal favorites. He was born in Scotland, but emigrated to Canada at the age of 21. After several years of living as a vagabond, and holding a variety of jobs for a time, he ended up in the goldfields of the Yukon, where his experiences provided him with the material for which he is best remembered. His verses of the gold rush, including such classics as The Shooting of Dan McGrew, were assembled into a collection titled Songs of a Sourdough, and published in 1907. When the Great War broke out, he served as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service. This experience provided him with the inspiration for yet another collection of verses, the often poignant Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, published in 1916. Robert Service died on September 11, 1958, and is buried in the local cemetery at Lancieux, Côtes-d’Armor, France.