poem: they walked, Veterans/Remembrance Day 2023

distant thunder ? Or just drums in a parade ?

[ Copyright by me, 2009. All Rights Reserved. ]

A many a war has been fought,
newsreels and teevee show,
troopers riding trucks and tanks,
or being on trains or ships,
to get where they needed to go.

But they spend lots of time walking,
sometimes bent over,
or in a 'duck walk',
so as to avoid the bullets,
whizzing by over head.

Sometimes they run,
and sometimes they hide in foxholes,
or bunkers,
but walking is what they do the most.

Walking not just a few miles,
but long distances,
over the years.

To Tipperary, to Burma,
to Beleau Wood, to Anzio,
Beirut, to Benghazi,
Normandy to Berlin,
Guadalcanal, to Manila and beyond.

Some rode on ships and planes,
but many wore out boots,
walking for many miles.

Veterans, who came home alive,
now they walk or ride in parades,
but no one is firing artillery nor bullets,
at them anymore.

Crowds wave at them,
and make speeches,
some remember their lost friends,
a few write about those days,
and wonder what happened to those,
who have 'missing in action',
next to their names.

[ Taps ]

[ exit ]

My apologoies for being late.
-- 
Jim