Veterans Day Remembrance Poem

by Jennifer
(Jesup, Georgia, USA)

Veterans Day is very special to our family since my father is a Vietnam veteran and my brother is a Gulf War veteran. We grew up listening to father's stories of the friends he made during his army years.

Veterans Day is when he still pulls out his photo album and reminisces about his friends and the adventures they shared.

Though he occasionally gets a sad look in his eye, most of his stories are about humorous things that happened during his stint in Vietnam.

He talks about the music they listened to, they places they saw, the people they met, the crazy stuff they did when they got a little R&R. He swears up and down that the reason he can eat almost anything today is because of the practice he got eating army food.

One of his funniest stories is about when he got shrapnel in his eye (though that part isn't funny). The helicopter came to pick him up to get first aid. Since he could only see out of one eye his depth perception was a bit off. He misjudged how close the helicopter was to the ground, and jumped out when it was still about eight feet in the air!

Luckily, he wasn't hurt, but claims that was the biggest step he ever took.

Veterans Day Remembrance Poem

They went away boys and came back as men,
some so devoted they would do it again.

They paused their dreams, put lives on hold,
to protect our country, the free and the bold.

They left behind friends, they left behind lovers,
left warm homes for thin army covers.

They gave no thought, just did what was right.
Gave their all and got into the fight.