SwiftVets.com

GM Strong · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:12 am Post subject:

I was there last weekend again and all work is supposed to be finished up by Veterans Day
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8th Army Korea 68-69

jaxinman · Seaman Recruit Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 8

I visited the wall in December 1981 on a business trip, and it hurt. My personal experience at ""The Wall" was epiphanous, hard to describe.

The whole discussion of Vietnam brings up bad emotions for me. I wrote this poem then and it is mixed for this group but I wholeheartedly support you. Welcome home.

-----

A Visit To The Wall

It brings back the whopp-whopp of the choppers,
The pop-pop of the guns,
And the hollow sounds of those forty mike-mike rounds
As the Air Cav made their runs.

And sometimes it was scary,
So god-damned scary in that hole,

That you’d do anything, just to feel anything,
‘til you didn’t feel anything at all.

And you knew you killed,
Hell you were highly skilled,
And it was the will of those guys home,

But it was confused,
You felt a little used,
And you felt very much alone.

You just turned twenty-one
And you had always done
Whatever you were told.

But damn those scary nights,
And the blazing lights ,

Made it like Hell firing through the cold.

And they were everywhere,
Just everywhere.
You couldn’t tell by eye,

But you knew they were,
‘cause they really were
And you’d seen your buddies die.

Friends by day,
They’d just get in the way,
And by night they’d cut your throuat.
They sent their kids and wives and cost us many lives.
It kind of changed your thoughts on hope.

You’d get to the point that when a buddy died,
It was just another day,

But when you took them out, it was body count
And you sometimes talked about how you blew them away!

And as you approached, the end,
Man you’ll be home again,
You felt happiness and fear.
Don’t know if I can adjust,

But man I must.

Man, I gottat get the Hell out of here.

But what about those guys?

Damned those guys?
Buddies every one.

We all know.

Yes, we all know

That wars ain’t ever won.

Guys on on the wall:

Guys you remember when they bought it,
Guys you didn’t know had died,
Guys whose names you don’t remember,
Guys whose names you knew and when you left, they were alive.
The guys you knew, but never knew the names of,
And those you didn’t know at all.

There’s just too many names on that wall…
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.jax

GoophyDog · Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:18 am Post subject:

I've visited the wall twice. Both times I was awed by the sheer reverence.

Quet reflection personified.
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Why ask? Because it needs asking.

gocars · Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2004 2:52 pm Post subject:

jax

Great poem. Makes me reflect deeply on the tremendous loss of brave men.

gocars
101st Airborne
'Nam 67-70
U.S. Army Rangers Lead the Way!

Aristotle The Hun · PO1 Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 488 Location: Naples FL

Aristotle The Hun · PO1 Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 488 Location: Naples FL

[quote="jaxinman I wrote this poem then and it is mixed for this group but I wholeheartedly support you. Welcome home.
…[/quote]

It took me three times, half a box of kleenex, and half a dozen reassurances to my wife that I was OK, but I made it through the poem.

Sam
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Deportè Monsieur Kerrè

TEWSPilot · Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:52 am Post subject:

Read that poem again and contrast the images it conjures up with this image.

and this one. Look closely at the names starting on the third line. That is where his quotes begin. There were some complaints about it, but that issue has been resolved. [NONE OF THE NAMES USED IN THIS IMAGE ARE REAL. THEY ARE ALL FICTICIOUS SO AS NOT TO DISRESPECT THE REAL HEROES WHOSE NAMES ARE FOREVER ETCHED IN HISTORY.]

...and this one speaks for itself.

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sixdogteam · Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:22 am Post subject:

What a travesty to have Kerry at the Wall! It makes us puke to think about it. We visited the Wall and also one of the traveling exhibits, and it is a moving and tearful experience for all who do. TO HAVE KERRY VISIT THE WALL WOULD BE LIKE HITLER VISITING THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM!
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HHC 212th CAB MMAF RVN '70-'71

jaxinman · Seaman Recruit Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 8

I hesitate to bring this up because it hurts.... I posted my poem about The Wall earlier, but one thing that it does not bring out is that the names on The Wall are in chronological order. Guys who served and who have not visited The Wall should be aware of this before they visit because not only does a visit bring back the names, it brings back the calendar You go there to seek a name, a buddy, that you remember, but right around him are the names of buddies that died probably in the same action... and then there is another buddy a little bit further down The Wall and it brings back memories of between then and then. Man, that is tough... I lost six close buddies over there... spread out over the 12 months I served.. drinking buddies... there one day and gone the next, then on to the next day, and when you visit it in that perspective... Oh man, it brings back the whole tour. It gets worse when you revisit the log and find names that you left there alive.

God bless them every one then and now
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.jax

haggis · Seaman Recruit Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 2 Location: iowa