Twenty Year Veteran

Twenty Year Veteran December Seventh, Nineteen Forty One, Was the Day I Turned Eighteen. I Immediately Joined the Service And Discovered Things I'd Never Seen. I Went to Korea in Fifty Nine, And Was Wounded in the Shoulder. I Came Back from There, Just Glad I'd Be Getting Older. I Was a Twenty Year Veteran, In Nineteen Sixty One. You Would Think I'd Had Enough, But I Felt I Wasn't Done. I Was Sent to Vietnam, A Leader Now of Men. I Know I Had Been Happier, But I Couldn't Say Just When. Then Things Completely Fell Apart, That Day We Fell under Attack. The Smoke Finally Cleared Away And I Saw the Blood on Billy's Back. I Remember How Johnny Held Him, Crying to God, "Why Was He Dead?" I'll Never Forget the Way Johnny Cried, "Why Didn't You Take Me Instead?" All of Those Boys Died There. Those Five Friends in Vietnam. I Died Not Long after and Joined Them. Johnny, Billy, Luke, George....And Tom. Connie Moore