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Our Country is in Mourning...A Soldier Died Today

By
Real Estate Agent with Better Homes and Gardens RE Shore and Country Properties RES.0781237

 

Armed ForcesA client emailed this poem to me on the 4th of July. I went on vacation the next day and thought of it often as I enjoyed my freedom and had a wonderful time with friends and family on a tropical island.

The sacrifices our armed forces and their families make for our country should be remembered every day.  Our veterans and those in active duty should be honored... not only on Memorial Day, July 4th, and Military Appreciation Day... but every day of the year.

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable 'To My Country' for an amount  "up to and including my life." 

That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.  

Read on...

A Soldier Died Today

By Lawrence Vaincourt, RCAF Veteran, Second World War (c) 1985

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast.
He sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of the war that he had fought and the deeds that he had done,
Of the exploits with his buddies, they are heroes, every one.

Tho' sometimes to his neighbours his tales became a joke,
His Legion buddies listened; they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer; he has passed away.
The world is much poorer now; A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary, uneventful, quiet life,
Held a job, raised a family and quietly went his way;
The world won't note his passing, Tho' A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.

When Statesmen leave this earth, their bodies lie in state.
Thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their stories, from the time that they were young.
The passing of a soldier tho', goes unnoticed and unsung.

It's so easy to forget them, it was so long ago,
When our young men left for battle, but this we should know.
It was not the politicians with their promises and ploys
Who won for us the freedom that our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with enemies at hand,
Would you want a diplomat with his every shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn we will defend;
His home, his kin, his country; he'll fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us; we may need his likes again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldiers part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the bureaucrats did start.

If we cannot do him honour while he's here to hear our praise;
At least let us pay him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say:
Our country is in mourning "A Soldier Died Today".

 (This one's for you, Dad)

 

Comments (1)

Not a real person
San Diego, CA

I'm always confused when I see a homeless person standing on the corner with a handwritten sign that says, "Please help. Homeless Vet." Coming from a military family myself, and having married into a military family, it's my considered observation that military benefits are pretty good if you make it out of the war zone. If you don't, benefits are pretty good for your family, as long as your family isn't gay. In all cases, those, when our vets do die, each and every one deserves a 21-gun salute.

Jul 11, 2010 09:57 PM