Wakeman's Peace (song 2015)

by Diftong

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about

On October 5 in 1944, Canadian flyer Harold Frederick Wakeman crashed near my hometown Veenendaal. He was only 22 years old. His squadron was bombing a train, when one of the bombs hit the tail of Wakeman's Typhoon plane. When I heard the story from local journalist Sjoerd de Jong, I decided to write a song about this tragic event. And so, after 70 years, I was present at the annual commemoration by Wakeman's grave, under a blue sky on a beautiful October day.

R.I.P. Harold Frederick Wakeman.

lyrics

WAKEMAN'S PEACE

This is the story of two fliers
And a girl witnessing their fate
Filed under friendly fire
One down, one devastated

Typhoons, still with their deadly load
Came flying back from the East
People wondered, friend or foe
One girl dared to wait and see

An aborted mission made them eager
They dropped their bombs on an empty train
There was a slight miscalculation
One of those bombs hit Wakeman’s plane

After the crash she saw him lying
On the road as she came near
Surprised to see his face so peaceful
Without a single trace of fear

Back in October ‘44
The sky was the same shade of blue
A cold hungry winter still in store
Before the war
Ended without you

Under a blue October sky
We are standing by a grave
In a moment of silence
We appreciate
Seven decades of freedom
Seven decades to date

credits

released May 2, 2015
Text and music by Diftong.
– DIFTONG: guitar, percussion, vocal
– JEEWEE DONKERS: mandolin
– HENK HARMSEN: bass
– JESSICA VAN WIJNGAARDEN: vocal

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about

Diftong The Netherlands

Welcome to Diftong’s heartfelt songs!

In 2022, after six albums with poetic songs on the edges of rock, country and folk, I decided the time was right to start something completely different: writing songs in Dutch. These Dutch songs will be released as single tracks and are accompanied by a blog (BOSGOD).

I sure hope that you enjoy my music and lyrics. Thanks for listening! ... more

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