Posted by
Scribbler on Friday, November 10, 2006 1:44:28 PM
They called it "The War to End All Wars" but it wasn't.
You were our Yankee Doodle Boys going off
To fight in the trenches along the Somme,
To fight the Albatross and the Fokker
Over the sunny skies of France.
You won the war and made the world
Safe for Democracy
Only it wasn't.
Less than another generation later,
A new tyrant proclaimed
Another idea,
A better way to live.
It was a new enemy wearing the same
Uniform of oppression and hate.
So, you ( women too ) donned the khaki and blue
And hummed Glenn Miller tunes while
You took the enemy's number at Midway and Normandy,
And said, "Nuts!" in the cold snows of Belgium.
But there would be no long, quiet days
Of rest and relaxation for you to raise a family
and celebrate the peace your struggle had won.
Soon there would be Incheon and MiG Alley and
Heartbreak Ridge where you were given conditions,
Restrictions on how to conduct the fight.
But a nation growing weak of heart and spirit
Didn't want to be reminded of the evil in men's souls,
So they turned their face away from the battles you were fighting.
In Vietnam, you again served to check the spread of conquest
And you fell in those awful rice paddies and bled
in a place called Hamburger Hill.
The Tet Offensive caught you off guard
But you recovered and drove them back.
You won the battle but we didn't know
Because we listened to craven man who took pictures
And spoke on television
Their betrayal as truth.
( We thought they were on your side! )
Forgive us for believing such
Traitor talk.
And now, again in the prime of life, you're off to
Fight a new enemy. One who deals in terror and bombs.
(The coward's way to fight.)
You have entered his lair and brought him to heel
And we thank you and pray we will be worthy of your sacrifice.
We say thank you and you smile but behind your eyes, we know
That you know, we don't know.
And so we go our way never knowing how the agony comes back
In dreams and you relive a time that can never really be shared.
But we do know we are free because of you.
We do know our nursing homes are filled with heroes.
We do know our thanks are sincere, not hidden in a politician's smirk.
We do know you have forever defined hero.
We do know our earnest prayers are with you always.
And
We do know you have made us proud...
Oh, so very proud.