09 Jul 2006 I watched the flag pass by one day. It fluttered on the breeze. A young Marine saluted it, And then he stood at ease. I looked at him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud, With hair cut square and eyes alert He'd stand out in any crowd. I thought how many men like him Had fallen through the years. How many mother's tears? How many pilots' planes shot down? How many died at sea? How many foxholes were soldiers' graves? No, freedom isn't free. I heard the sound of Taps one night, When everything was still I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill. I wondered just how many times That Taps had meant "Amen" When a flag had draped a coffin Of a brother or a friend. I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives, Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives. I thought about a graveyard At the bottom of the sea Of unmarked graves in Arlington. No, freedom isn't free. ï¿ 1/2 1981 by Kelly Strong From his granddaughter. E-mail address is not available.

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 13 Sep 1967 elements from two battalions of the 60th Infantry were engaged at Rach Ba Muing, about 4 kilometers south of Cai Lay in Dinh Tuong Province. Nine American soldiers died in the fight: 3rd Bn, 60th Infantry: PSGT Kenneth C. Rakentine, Lowland Hills, NY, "A" Company CPL Paul R. Strange, Ogden Dunes, IN, "A" Company SP4 Mack A. Alston, Whitakers, NC, "C" Company 5th Bn, 60th Infantry: MSG Kenneth D. Weis, Salina, KS, "A" Company (Silver Star) CPL Jessie C. Cofield, Newnan, GA, "A" Company SP4 Dennis R. Hodge, Cincinnati, OH, HQ Company with A/5/60 SP4 Walter F. Steffens, Arcadia, MI, HQ Company with A/5/60 PFC Sidney M. Rasnick, Clawson, MI, "A" Company PFC Michael D. Miner, Brownfield, PA, HQ Company with A/5/60

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 08/15/2019.