|
October Is Today |
 |
|
The date is October today
And I wait in the Biloxi VA.
I sit here with men
Who tell me where they've been.
Lots of vets who've been to Nam,
And have come back home,
After running rescue missions
From PT boats, looking for their own.
Soldiers, sailors, and Airman all,
Fill the seats in this VA hall.
Fought for Freedom's right
Every day and every night.
We all look back to yesterday,
Remembering the day we went away.
We also remember when
We came back home again.
But the days in between
The leaving and the returning,
Still stir up memories
That are forever churning!
Our hardest thoughts to bear
Are for those who died so young,
And never lived long enough
To finish the song that we begun.
Loved ones never saw where,
Or how they fell and died,
Now will we ever know
How these loved ones cried!
How large an eraser
Do we need
To eradicate the scenes
Upon which memories feed?
Come with me to the past,
To some foreign shore,
Where loved ones were alive,
But now they breathe no more!
Would it help to know
That this is where he fell
From his B-29 in the sky,
As he gave the enemy hell?
There is one young ' 29 pilot,
Whose memory haunts me still,
As his ship was rammed,
Falling upon this lonely hill.
Bob Copeland was his name;
March of '45 was the time
When the call of Freedom came
And took Lt. Copeland to another clime.
Such a void his loved ones knew,
And especially Bill, his nephew;
Yet the memories of young Bill
Would still a lifetime fill.
So, as I sit here today
Among men who sit with me.
We lift our heads and our hearts
Knowing that Freedom is not free! |
By
C. Douglas Caffey
Copyright 2002
Listed March
17, 2009 |
|
|
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. |
| It is illegal to use this poem without the author's permission.
~~ Send your comments and/or use permission request to
C. Douglas Caffey. ~~ |
Poem Use Permission Request
USA Patriotism! cannot
provide use permission for a poem or an author's email address
if not listed below the poem. Only the author or a legal
representative can grant permission. Try a search engine to find the
author's contact information for a use permission request or if
it is available for public use.
Note: Poems authored in the
1700s and 1800s can be used with reference to the author. |
Comment on this poem |
|
| | |
|
| Troops and Veterans Poems | Poem Categories |
|
