Many years ago, a good friend of mine (now in his advancing years) fought for New Zealand in the jungles of South-East Asia. He was part of a multi-national patrol on covert operations. During one particularly vicious firefight, my friend lost his own best friend who was serving with the British Royal Marine regiment. My friend recorded the details of the encounter that same night on the back of a cigarette packet which he only re- discovered in recent years. He sent me the details and asked me to write something.
The result was the following poem which I called “The Flag”.
