Wilbur Richard Courtis DFC (1915 to 1999) served as an RAAF Navigator during World War 2. He served in two theatres of war, including Papua New Guinea and Europe, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He returned to Papua New Guinea in 1992 on a Coral Sea cruise, marking the 50th anniversary of The Battle of the Coral Sea. During that voyage, he visited Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby. The ages of the servicemen buried there were between 18 years and 30 years. The visit prompted an emotional response and then a little later, a poem, The Silent Stones Cry Out.
For more information, please read on after the poem.
The Silent Stones Cry Out
by Wilbur Richard Courtis DFC
Unforgettable that day – the day I stood among
The quiet headstones on Bomana’s slopes;
Among those white and sombre monuments
That held their place upon the hill.
On parade they were, in ordered ranks,
Erect and still, amidst the shrubs
Which blossomed there for them.
The names and dates, carved cold in stone,
Chiselled their way afresh onto my heart
As I remembered how their lives and youth
Were cruelly snatched from them and theirs
And all they loved.
I pondered then, just how it was,
That they, not I – who’d shared so much with them,
Slept silent there.
The sun shone down, and I,
Wrapped in the noiseless beauty of it all,
Stood sad.
On that day, it seemed to me
That lives, though gone too soon,
Had, in their death,
Procured for us who stayed
More than we could ever, by ourselves, have gained.
As thus I mused, I found I prayed
That I live worthy of the sacrifice they made.
A re-creation of this poem with AI
This audio rendition of the poem uses the simulated voice of the poem’s author, Wilbur Courtis, based on historical recordings of his voice. It was produced, with permission of the Courtis Family, by David Bignell of Camberwell Camera Club using ElevenLabs Studio, an AI voice platform.
Creating a family history
This poem has already been included in a Family History to commemorate the life of Wilbur Courtis. It is entitled “Navigating Life: A Tribute to Wilbur Courtis DFC”. This was compiled by Wilbur’s elder son, Richard, currently for family use. An audio-visual version may be produced in the future by the family, incorporating the audio version of the poem, original material from family records, and other AI assisted material .
Marjie Courtis April 2026
