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Looking Back |
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Lee Ann's History class
Dared to take another look,
At American history
Not found in a book.
For, on Tuesday assembled
In one big room at GCCC,
Were gathered many soldiers
Whose actions kept America free!
Present were brave aged men.
From survivors of Bataan
To prisoners who were held
Captive by the Island of Japan.
There was a man who endured
D-Day at Normandy's beach,
And the Battle of the Bulge;
What history he could teach!
Who was this brave soldier?
Why, his name is Richard Zinn.
I'd like to sit and talk with him
About the battles he was in.
Among those present was
an Eight Air Force man,
Whose age is eighty three,
Flew the B-17 into Germany's land.
Flew thirty-five missions
In the B-17 known as Winnie C.
He could talk for hours
About his bombing runs in Germany.
I talked with a POW man and
learned he was not far away
From Hiroshima when the Enola Gay
Loosed her dreadful load that day!
From 31,600 feet at 8:15 a.m...
And seven seconds past,
We loosed the dreaded load,
And that was her last.
Down, down the "thin man" fell,
Till and when the uranium split.
There was a flash from Hell,
And a scorching from the pit!
This young airman of WWII
Has stood in the bomb bay
Of that great and noble ship,
The one we call The Enola Gay.
Gone are the days when we were young,
Our faces show the strain,
But our memories of the past
Live the war all over again.
How I'd love to sit and talk
With all the warriors who yet can walk,
And perhaps shed some tears,
As we share our lives of former years.
Each man here today would stand to say,
"What we did back then, we'd do again,
To keep this great land in Freedom's court,
Where waves the flag and liberty so remains." |
By
C. Douglas Caffey
Copyright 2002
Listed March
15, 2009 |
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Author's Bio:
C. Douglas Caffey is a disabled veteran of WWII. He
served (1944-1946) in the 509th Composite Bomb Group,
58th Wing, Air Photo Unit, 20th Air Force, United States
Army Air Force. It was the 509th who dropped the atomic
bombs on Japan and did the atom bomb tests at Bikini in
the Pacific. A chronic sufferer of PTSD since WWII, Doug
is a former college dean. He started writing poetry
several years ago and though he doesn't claim to be a
poet, he does claim to write from the heart. |
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