Into the landing craft

D-Day at Dawn,
As he climbed down
The scramble net
And into the landing craft,
He was afraid,
But more than that
He was terrified,
But he was not
Afraid of death
Nor of injury,
Not of the rolling seas
Or the deafening boom
Of Naval guns
Or incessant gunfire
From the hostile shore.
None of that unnerving
Catalogue of terror
Frightened his as much,
Or made him more afraid
Than of fear itself
A paralyzing fear
Filling him with anxiety
Rendering him inert
Leaving him unable
To do his duty
To remember his training
Or fulfill his function
But above all else
His greatest fear of all
Was that he would
Let down his men
When they needed him most

Beautiful....
One has to have connections to such things, to fully understand and appreciate what you so beautifully put into words.
My thanks, Biggus...

Thanks Kiz
My Dad was at Normandy and landed with the Guards Armoured Division.
He rarely spoke about his wartime experiences, and when he did it was generally about the normal day to day things that he remembered, his mates, eating, drinking and sharing a joke, rather than the horrors.
I did ask him once if he was afraid during the fighting and he replied
"Oh yes, every minute, and anyone who said they weren’t were either liars or already dead"