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| I'm honored to have the opportunity to pass this well-written poem along. |
| 2018-03-02 |
| He was getting old and paunchy And his hair was falling fast, And he sat around the Legion, Telling stories of the past. Of a war that he once fought in And the deeds that he had done, In his exploits with his buddies; They were heroes, every one. And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors His tales became a joke, All his buddies listened quietly For they knew where of he spoke. But we'll hear his tales no longer, For ol' Joe has passed away, And the world's a little poorer For a Veteran died today. He won't be mourned by many, Just his children and his wife. For he lived an ordinary, Very quiet sort of life. He held a job and raised a family, Going quietly on his way; And the world won't note his passing, 'Tho a Veteran died today. When politicians leave this earth, Their bodies lie in state, While thousands note their passing, And proclaim that they were great. Papers tell of their life stories From the time that they were young, But the passing of a Veteran Goes unnoticed, and unsung. Is the greatest contribution To the welfare of our land, Some jerk who breaks his promise And cons his fellow man? Or the ordinary fellow Who in times of war and strife, Goes off to serve his country And offers up his life? The politician's stipend And the style in which he lives, Are often disproportionate, To the service that he gives. While the ordinary Veteran, Who offered up his all, Is paid off with a medal And perhaps a pension, small. It is not the politicians With their compromise and ploys, Who won for us the freedom That our country now enjoys. Should you find yourself in danger, With your enemies at hand, Would you really want some cop-out, With his ever-waffling stand? Or would you want a Veteran His home, his country, his kin, Just a common Veteran, Who would fight until the end. He was just a common Veteran, And his ranks are growing thin, But his presence should remind us We may need his likes again. For when countries are in conflict, We find the Veteran's part, Is to clean up all the troubles That the politicians start. If we cannot do him honor While he's here to hear the praise, Then at least let's give him homage At the ending of his days. Perhaps just a simple headline In the paper that might say: "OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, A VETERAN DIED TODAY." PLEASE, If you are proud of our Vets, then pass this on. |
| Posted by:Anomalous Sources |
| #2 50th anniversary of the 82nd deployment to Vietnam. All the way airborne.. |
| Posted by: Bman 2018-03-02 17:36 |
| #1 Its sentimental. Nevertheless, it IS true, for all of that. He did get old. And he did get boring. And he may have been your old Dad, and you bore with him even when he was boring , which he was. But you understood his stories after you came home from VietNam yourself. And you got old yourself and he is long gone now. So yu hold your tongue when you see a young man who has an earring in ear and a rainbow T-shirt. And you see what NBC says about vets and the newsreels about the Iraq War. And the vets who have done two and sometimes three deployments and their families live in trailers and their wives struggle to raise the two little kids alone while their father is in Afghanistan. And these men are so few, and the families suffer so much. And sometimes they come home and have lost everything because the young wife just couldn't bear up. And they have to adapt to coming a civilian again and stacking cartons of Coke in a Supermarket when they used to Command a Platoon. And they remember too much hurt and can't talk about it to anyone. And their own children don't know who that are even though they love they love those children very much. And love that wife who is no longer is a wife and they and she are alone now Separated...nothing is more profound than ordinary hurt. Serving the Flag. All those years and ...sentimentality isn't the right word. And you got old and never got any of it back, you still hurt. And your kids need the insight of heroes to see it in you. And to understand. He got a govt. headstone and was buried in family graveyard in a small community churchyard and I go down once a year and mow the lawn and sit in the truck alone, myself. I am all those men. going back to the generation of 1835, every generation. One Flag. At a cost. |
| Posted by: Andy Bumble5704 2018-03-02 06:16 |