Welcome to my Memorial Day holiday page!!

A holiday adoptable from me!

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in 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,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' 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.

~Copyright 1981 By
LCDR Kelly Strong, USCG~

My Friend

Dear Mom and Dad,
The war is over now
My task is through
But there is something
I must ask of you.

I have a friend (oh, such a friend)
He has no home, you see
So Mom, I would like to
Bring him home with me.

My son, of course we do not mind
If someone comes home with you.
I'm sure he could stay with you
A day or so, or two.

But Mom, you do not understand
What I'm trying to say.
I want him to live with us
As long as he could stay.

But Mom, I must tell you something.
Please don't be alarmed;
My friend, you see, in battle
Just happened to lose an arm.

My son, do not be afraid
To bring him home with you --
He could visit a week or two.

But Mom, he's not just a friend,
He's like a brother, too.
That's why I want him to stay
And be a son to you.
But before you give your answer
There's more I must say.
My friend just fought a battle
In which he lost a leg.

My son, it hurts me to say,
But my answer must be no.
Your father and I have no time
For a boy who is crippled so.

Some months later a letter came
Saying their son had died.
When they read the cause of death
The letter said suicide.

Later, when the casket came
Draped with our country's flag,
They saw their son lying there
without an arm or leg.

--Anonymous

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