I would like to dedicate this poem to all of the men who served in Vietnam.
Gratitude
To all the men who defended
That old red, white, and blue
I would like to extend my
heartfelt thanks
to each and all of you.
Fresh-faced boys, you went
off to battle
not knowing what you’d find. You
never thought you would return to a country that could be so unkind.
No matter what your uniform
You became brothers, close and tight
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines
all had pledged to fight.
From Cam Ranh Bay to Khe Sanh
You trekked up mountaintops
and waded through rice paddies
wondering when this insane war would stop.
What are we fighting for?
You asked yourselves in anger
and defeat.
The enemy was everywhere, an
adversary you could not beat.
You fought the jungles,
snakes and insects, deadly booby-traps and snipers in the night.
Exhausted and discouraged,
it was sometimes hard to see the light.
Each one of you counted
down the hours
until your DEROS date. You hoped
again you’d make it home, that the bullet would come too late.
When finally came the freedom
bird,
all silver and shining new
You couldn’t believe the
time had come
That plane was just for you.
Back home you tried to live
The way you used to do.
But everything seemed
shallow;
You couldn’t forget the guilt that
was nagging you.
You missed the sounds and
sights of ‘Nam
The place you’d once called hell.
Beautiful but deadly too, You were held under its
spell.
I shouldn’t have gone,
you told yourself, unable to forget the buddies you’d left behind.
I should be right there
with them smoking and talking behind the line.
The faces of dead buddies
continued to haunt your sleep. Why
not me, you still wondered, still feeling the grief so deep.
You stacked your medals and
your memories
in a box placed high on a dusty shelf
trying to forget them trying not to hate yourself.
No one wanted to talk about
it anyway
Your eyes looked tired and old;
people looked away.
You could not tell the
horrors of your soul.
They weren’t there, they
wouldn’t understand,
many times you thought.
So you held it all inside
Until something inside you
began to rot.
One day, slowly, you began to speak
Of all the things you’d seen.
You couldn’t believe the
relief you felt
at finally coming clean.
Guilt and grief came pouring
forth,
a floodgate finally let flow,
and you felt alive again, at
last letting the memories go.
People began to listen
some realizing their mistakes
back then
Blaming you, our young, brave
soldiers
for a war we couldn’t win.
As for the wrongs that were
committed against you many of those people were hypocrites and liars.
Times are changing for the
Vietnam vet,
You are respected and
admired.
I just wanted you to know
On this Memorial Day
that you are not forgotten or forsaken
Thank you for the sacrifices you have made,
for the chances you have taken.
You are heroes to me,
each and every one
and I wish to, once again, thank you
on this Memorial dawn.
Michele Kelley
May 27, 2000
In memory of Calvin R. Kelley--1951-1975
Coast Guard
Vietnam Veteran
