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Contributor: Faye Sizemore || Poem Categories

We Were Not There country as flag
Laos. We were not there
But what about them
The Six-Hundred who still are:

Refo: 1409
1LT Steven Ray Armistead
Disappearing from sight
Long ago in Sixty-nine
Is he alive or is he dead
Thirty-three years
Of his family's tears
Near the city of Muong Nong
[We were not there]
On March seventeenth at night
In a Grumman A6 Intruder
With Charles Finney
[He had been a West Point cadet]
His bombardier/navigator
Supporting an air strike
Conducted by the 7th Air Force
Completing their target strike
before being hit by enemy fire
They went down southwest of the DMZ
In Savannakhet Provience
[We were not there, you see]
Pathet Lao said they had prisoners
Dozens, this communist faction reported
Laos was not in the Paris Peace agreement
At least that is what they retorted
So we did not negotiate
These men were left... just left with no care
Oh yes, they did promote Steven to Major
And Charles was promoted to Captain
When will they go to tell them that?
Perhaps they will take also the news, if they dare
That we were not there, I repeat, not there.

USMC Major Steven Ray Armistead - Missing in Action: Laos
USMC Major Steven Ray Armistead
USMC Captain Charles Finney - Missing in Action: Laos
 USMC Captain Charles Finney
By Faye Sizemore
Copyright 2002
Listed April 26, 2012		  

Author's Note: For USMC Major Steven Ray Armistead and USMC Captain Charles Finney - Missing in Action: Laos ~ March 17, 1969

About Author... Faye Sizemore makes her home in the beautiful foothills of South Carolina with Grant, the love of her life, as well as three dogs, two cats, two parakeets and four nanny goats. Grant is a Vietnam Veteran having served with the US Marines in 1968-69 and is, of course, Faye's muse. Faye is deeply interested in Veterans' Affairs and Veterans' Causes. She is very proud of Grant and her poetry is an off-shoot of that pride.

Visit Faye Sizemore's site for more information

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