Military Memories - Vietnam Veteran Poetry
The pain of a thousand
Veterans in my ears,
Paltalk brings me
To tears----------
Wanting to share
Wanting to care
As if tears can wash
Away the ravages of war
Gone to serve
Gone to say an oath.
To serve God and Country.
Not wanting to die
But suffering worse-
To live, when close
Friends died instead.
Bitter feelings of
Coming home.
Of why me not him?
Then the country
Turning Treason on Vets
Who served proudly.
Wondering
Wondering
Confusion!
Anger with our
Country and our people
Who forced us
To go to war.
Who drafted us
Into service, then rejected us
For serving!
Confusion!
What did we do wrong?
Serve proudly?
Yes we did!!
Fight bravely?
Yes we did!!
We are the proud.
We are the ones.
Our country has broken us
Even when the enemy
Could not.
We were defeated, not by Vietnam
But by the USA.
We were defeated
By our own family,
Friends,loved ones
And all those who
Did not support us
Like Hanoi Jane Fonda!
You broke our hearts
And our minds.
Our bodies
And our spirits---
More than the bullets
Killed us on the battlefield.
Your words and actions
Killed us
When we returned to you.
You spat on us!!
You rejected us!!
Then accepted with honor
Those who ran to Canada
To avoid duty.
You took our honor
And gave it to traitors!!
And
Gave us shame!!
Through our depression
A strange thing happened.
We awoke---
This sleepy thing
Called Veterans
And we united.
All Branches of service
Blended
Together as one.
As an armed forces combined.
To give comfort
And caring and sharing.
We will overcome!
We will be proud!
We will hold our heads high!
Through our shame we have arisen!
And
As a force of one army
We shall change
People!
We shall change
Thoughts!
We shall defeat all those
Who tried to shame us.
We stand proud
And say this to our Country----
You have stained the flag
With the blood of our fallen Brothers and Sisters!
You have made Veterans take their own lives
After they returned home!
Their blood is on your hands now.
Because when you shame us----
You also shame yourselves Because,
my friends-
We are you!!
We are your Sons and Daughters
Your Grandsons and Granddaughters
We are your Aunts and your Uncles
We are your Cousins
We are your Brothers and Sisters
We are your Loved Ones.
We are in essence
YOU
Now who has the shame?
Now who has the pain?
Not us!
We finally hold our heads high
And say proudly to you---
Yes we are Vietnam Veterans!!!
We are the ones
Who fought the fight!
We never ran
We never crawled away----
Even though, by God,
sometimes we wanted to
We tasted fear---
As all soldiers do
We overcame our enemies over there
And now
We will overcome You.
Perhaps if only one thing happens
From this event
And then we will be proud of America.
May America never again be ashamed
Of her Vets who proudly
Served and Died.
But more importantly----
May the Vets who proudly
Served and Died
For their Country
NEVER AGAIN BE ASHAMED OF THEIR OWN COUNTRY AMERICA!!!!
Rich Young - Aka Guncarver on Paltalk
Guncarver@cableone.net
Guncarver@Hotmaiil.com
Vietnam Veteran ----- Proudly Served USN 1967-68 TET Clarkston, Wa.
20001
but most of all
WELCOME HOME !!!!!!!!
this poem may be freely shared but never for profit except by me.
Thanks,
Rich Young
Some wouldn't even listen, when he would try to explain.
No Welcome Home parades, for the town's people turned away.
For him there was not to be a real Homecoming Day.
They went in all directions, and coped the best they could.
Carrying more guilt and shame than any Veteran should.
They built walls and bunkers inside so they could be touched no more.
And each night they dreamed and cried and fought a raging war.
For thirty some odd years have passed and wonder where they are?
Some are walking the homeless streets, some in VA mental wards.
Many have died from illness contracted in the Nam.
Some just quit fighting, some picked up a gun.
But by the Grace of God, some found the courage to step out.
"I am a Vietnam Veteran, I got the right to be proud"
Turn away if you must or listen if you will.
I've bore all you threw at me and I am standing still.
Although my steps are weary and my soul is oh so sore,
You can take your blame and guilt, I won't carry it no more.
I'll reach out to my brothers that are still standing all alone
And by God you can't stop us.. One by One We're Coming home.
***************************************
Dedicated to Jimmie, Dave and John .. "Welcome Home"
by Lois Adams
"What this Mural Holds"
Color doesn't matter here
and courage is something that they
all have shared
For upon this mural, are memories
to embrace
and it breaks my heart to have to add
yet, another face
who will sing for them now, who will
be their voice
Mothers, Fathers, and their children
a delegated choice
It will be a song of victory, and
proudly they will speak
smiles will be upon their faces, as
the eyes may weep
This mural may not ever be completed
each day a new one comes
But, in heaven these soldiers, are
rejoicing for their good works are done
Brenda Hill - 4/2005
***************************
The movies give us heroes
and very life like gore but they can’t portray
the deep gut horror that
actually is war.
TV news shows war’s children,
all hollow eyed and bones, but it
doesn’t show the soldier’s
terror of night watches stood alone.
The women, booze, and bravado in films that makes war seem like fun
can’t make the jungle friendly
when your best friend is a gun.
But if I had it to do over
without question I would go, even if I knew
then what now I’ve come
to know.
That from the trenches
to the ovens from
who gets hurt is different
but the hurting still goes on.
I cherish my country’s
freedom and to preserve it I would fight but
that doesn’t mean that
I like war and it doesn’t make war right.
************************
A trooper from Minnesota writes:
Outside the city, shivering with dread,
We're Falluja bound.
Can hear the explosions when I raise my head. . . .
Foreign soldiers, invaders from another land;
When I look through the hatred in their eyes,
I almost understand.
R.P.G.'s, mortars, and friends dead on the road.
My youth is gone,
Crushed from sensory overload.
Assaulted yesterday up an Iraqi street.
R.P.G. explosion, a scream,
Seared my face with the heat.
Dragged him through the blood-streaked dust and dirt,
His screams in my ears,
His blood type tagged to his shirt.
Covered with blood, he cried, Don't leave me alone.
Died in my arms;
Now I just want to go home.
Officers yelling, Get out of your holes!
We're Falluja bound;
Please pray for our souls.
A Tribute To Veterans
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.¹S 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.A¹S, Who Were Left Behind We Echo This Message Across the Seas We Will search For as Long As It Takes You¹re 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 They¹re 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 ) |
