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A Tribute To Veterans
A
Song by Jerry Calow
In
Vietnam, Korea and World Wars Past
Our Men Fought Bravely so Freedom Would Last
Conditions Where Not Always Best They
Could Be
Fighting a Foe You Could Not Always See:
From Mountain Highs to Valley Lows
From
Jungle Drops to Desert Patrols
Our Sinewy Sons Were Sent Over Seas
Far From Their Families And Far From Their Dreams
They
Never Wrote Letters Of Hardships Despair
Only Of Love, Yearning That One Day Soon:
They Would
Come Home, They Would Resume
And Carry On With The Rest of Their Lives
The P.O.W.S Stood Steadfast
Against
the Indignities And Cruelties Of War
They Could Not Have Lasted as Long as They Did
If They Had Relinquished Their Hope
That Some Day:
They Would Come Home, They Would Resume
And Carry On the Rest
Of Their Lives
Medics, Nurses, and Chaplains Alike
Did What They Needed To Bring Back Life
They Served Our Forces
From Day Into Night
Not Questioning If They Would Survive:
They Mended Bones And Bodies Too,
They
Soothed the Spirits of Dying Souls
And for Those M.I.A.'s Who Were Left
Behind
We Echo This Message Across the Seas
We Will search For as Long As It Takes
You're Not Forgotten
And Will Always Be:
In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers,
In Our Minds For All Time.
A Moment of Silence, a Moment of Summons
Is Their Deliverance
of Body And Soul
To a Sacred Place That We All Know
Deep In the Shrines of Our Soul:
In Our
Hearts, In Our Prayers
In Our Minds For All Time
INTERLUDE:
GOLD STAR
MOTHERS GRIEVE: ENDLESSLY,
ENDLESSLY, ENDLESSLY.......
These Immortalized Soldiers Whose Bravery Abounds
Theyre Our Husbands, Fathers, and Sons
They
Enlisted For the Duty at Hand
To Serve the Cause of Country and Land:
They Had Honor, They Had
Valor,
They Found Glory That Change Them Forever
Men Standing Tall and Proud They be
A Country
Behind Them in a Solemn Sea
So Let the Flags of Freedom Fly
Unfurled in Their Majesty High:
In
the Sun, In the Rain
In the Winds Across This Land
Years of Tears Has Brought Us Here
Gathering
Around to Hear This Sound
So Let the Flags of Freedom Fly
Unfurled in Their Majesty High:
In
the Sun, In the Rain,
In the Winds Across This Land
REPEAT:
In the Sun,
In the Rain,
In the Winds For All Time
Jerry Calow (copyright 2003 )
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Soilder's Prayer
by: Jennifer Elizabeth Waagmeester
It's time to sleep
I've been relieved
My rifle at my side
My knife in it's sheath
Lord let me live another day
As I put myself in harms way
I made my choice, I took the oath
I stand for freedom, but I don't boast
My God, my country, my family
The things I hold so dear
With these all on my side
There's nothing for me to fear
But if I should fall before my next relief
I will stand before you Lord with honor
and dignity
So, while I'm here please make me strong
To fight the battles and right what's wrong.
Copyright ©2007 Jennifer Elizabeth Waagmeester
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Generation Gap
Lifting
The Wool Beret, I Place It On My Head.
I
Twist My Face Into A Dictator’s For The Mirror.
Pins
And Medals Flop To One Side,
It
Almost Covers My Ears.
Ocean
Pearl Blue,
Christmas Ribbon Red, And Gold Of Fire,
Dangle
From The Flat, Green Moth Eaten Hat.
Adjusting
It, I Touch A Shiny Black Ribbon,
Split
Exactly In Half, The Ribbon Gives The Hat Dignity.
I
Tinker With The Pins And Medals
Trying
To Make It Set Straight.
“Where
In God’s Name Did You Find That Thing!”
Dad
Asks From Behind Me.
His
Cheeks Flush, And His Eyes Become Cloudy.
I
Reply, “Uhm…In The Trunk Of Old Clothes.”
I
Question The Man In The Mirror Behind Me,
“Where
Is It From? Its Neat.”
He
Lifts It Gently Out Of My Hand,
“It
Doesn’t Matter Now….”
He
Slides The Beret On.
“It’s
Been A Long, Long Time Since Viet Nam.”
Author: Kimberly Brooks-Graham
_____________________________________________
The Flags on Grandpa’s Hat
“Grandpa that looks silly”
She said looking at my wall
A baseball cap was hanging there
With a dozen flags in all.
Little pins of memories
Upon that field of blue
Flags of many nations
Every shape and hue.
In the middle emblazoned
The words “Vietnam Vet”
She asked me what that was,
What those two words meant.
I said they meant a lifetime
Spent in just four years
A lifetime full of learning
And yet, one full of tears.
She asked me to explain to her
The meaning of each pin
To tell her of the history
Of each country I’d been in.
The island of Guam was my first stop
On the way to getting old.
The place where I lost my best friend
A pain as yet untold.
The Philippines was the leadoff
On the way to war
A place where I became a man
In ways I couldn’t ignore.
Then we sailed to North Vietnam
For six months on the line
Going through the minefields
Praying each and every time.
Each flag had a story,
As she continued to pry.
She had lots of question
Some answers made me cry.
“It doesn’t seem so silly now”
She said as she kissed my cheek.
And as she took off out the room
I could barely speak.
“Thank you for your asking”
I whispered through my tears.
I put the cap back on the wall
My hat of all my fears.
Written and submitted by:
Kenneth Lambert
____________________________________________
What is a Veteran?
Some veterans
bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.
Others may carry the evidence inside them, a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – or
perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.
You can’t tell a veteran just by looking. What is a veteran?
A veteran
is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia
sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
A veteran is the bar room loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed
a hundred times in the cosmic scales by the four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th Parallel.
A veteran is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da
Nang.
A veteran is the POW who went away one person and came back another – or didn’t come back at all.
A veteran is the drill instructor that has never seen combat – but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy,
no-account punks and gang members into marines, airmen, sailors, soldiers and coastgaurdsmen, and teaching them to watch each
other’s backs.
A veteran is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
A veteran in the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
A veteran is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb of the Unknown, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery
must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or
in the ocean’s sunless deep.
A veteran is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket – palsied now and aggravatingly slow – who
helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares
come.
A veteran
is an ordinary and yet extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service
of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
A veteran is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest
testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember,
each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, “Thank You.” That’s
all most veteran’s need and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, “Thank You."
author unknown
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A Wall Story
A Visit to the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall
By: Dan F. Horner
It was
a clear, cold, windy day. I was feeling an odd mix of youth, and every one of
my 62 years. My wife and daughter were with me as I walked down the hill into
the natural grassy bowl. A long black wall stood before us. Feeling uncomfortable at first, I busied myself finding names of people from my home town, and people that
I had promised to find for friends and acquaintances. I took pictures and some
rubbings of the names as I found them.
Having
put off feeling for as long as possible, I went back to the panel bearing the names Noel Rios and William Anselmo. I remembered their faces and realized how young they were. They
seemed so much older back then. I thought of C-130s’ and 123’s. I thought of Danang, Khe Sanh, and so many other things from so long ago.
I reached
out and touched Bill’s name etched into the wall. It must have come from
somewhere deep within me, but I cannot say for sure. As my fingers touched Bill’s
name, an almost warm, almost electric pulse traveled from my fingers, and up my arm. It must have made it to my heart, because
I cried. I think it was the first time I had cried for them. I don’t know if I spoke to them in that instant or they talked to me, but for that short time we
were together again.
__________________________________________________________
From the
Daughter of a Vet -
My father
served with the Air Force in Vietnam ’67 - ‘68 and I’ve grown up knowing that there were heroes in his life
that I never got the pleasure of meeting except via the traveling Wall and through Dad’s stories about them. I am actively
trying to raise money to take Dad to Washington DC in 2008 for his 40th year
anniversary of his safe return. If he hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t be here.
I
am the daughter of a Veteran. I stand before you today to tell you for all of
your sons & daughters that we love you. No matter what you saw, heard or
did over there. We are glad you are here with us.
We
know it so easily could have been you that didn’t come home and then we would not exist.
Your being here has changed the world.
We are
glad it was you that came home, but we are sorry for those who didn’t.
Even
though the war changed you, from who you believed yourself to be… I didn’t
know you before the war, I know you now. I know you as the person
I have looked up to all of my life.
I have
seen your faraway gaze as you talk about your friends; I see the muscles tense in your body as you watch a military history
show on the History Channel on TV. I’ve gone to Memorial Day events with
you and seen your eyes fill with tears as Taps was played.
I
wish I could take away the tears from your eyes and that sob from your throat when you think about your friends. But I can’t make it all go away.
The
only thing that I can do is tell you that you are loved…you are appreciated. You
are looked up to, and you are needed.
We need
you to tell your stories, we need to you wrap your arms around your grandchildren and tell them what America is to you. Tell us the names
of the heroes you knew and let us embrace them in our hearts. For it is only
with knowledge of what has been lost that we learn to appreciate what we are so fortunate to have.
We have you.
Bethany
Erck 2007
______________________________________________________
The Nightmare Never Ends
Dedicated to my father
Ed Zenobi
and all Vietnam Vets
Written by: Jennifer Waagmeester
Close your eyes and go to sleep,
My poor, haunted soldier man,
I'll try my best to keep you safe,
In any way I possibly can.
Cradled there in my loving arms,
He drifted off to Vietnam
once more.
I tried my best to soothe him,
But he was already back in the war.
His body's tense and twitching,
As he dreams of yesteryear,
I call out his name in vane,
Just trying to ease his fear.
But the battle is already brewing,
He's in the mist of a fire fight,
And for what seems like an eternity,
My soldier thrashes in the night.
And it's too late to bring him home,
He's fighting along side his brothers,
He hears his comrades cry out in pain,
And call out for their mothers.
He's soaked in sweat as he jumps about,
He feels the bullets whizzing by,
His body's numb as he checks himself,
He's so certain he's gonna die.
No, not today my brave hero,
Though you've lost so many friends,
He opens his eyes as the dream has past,
But the nightmare never ends.
Copyright ©2007 Jennifer Elizabeth Waagmeester
____________________________________________________________
A Poem For You, the Vietnam Veteran. This poem was brought by Ms. Messer and distributed among those
who attended the Vietnam Veterans Reunion, paid for with her own money and written from the heart. For those of you
who missed it, here is her poem for you:
In Honor of the Vietnam Veterans
I NEED TO SAY THANK YOU
By Delphine Messer
I need to say THANK YOU
For what you have done
And what you have given
For me and everyone.
The years have gone by
But the memories are still there
Of what you have gone through
And no, it was not fair.
You did what was ordered
You served this country well
My heart goes out to you
You went through living hell.
There was no "heroes welcome"
No "welcome home" you had
And for that I am so sorry
It still makes me very sad.
You deserved to be honored
The minute you stepped off the plane
Because you are a "hero"
In my heart you will remain.
Yes, many years have gone by
I hope it's not too late to say
THANK YOU for your service
GOD be with YOU every day.
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There are some moments in time that impress upon your soul the incredible feeling
that you have been changed forever...
Pierre was that way for us. The entire weekend visiting with thousands
of people was wonderful, to each and everyone who attended the event, THANK YOU! It was an honor
to be with you there. Please send us your stories, poems, photos, etc. It would be wonderful to share them
with other Veterans.
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