Thinking:
Thinking of Memorial Day,
And flashes of faces without names flesh through my mind,
Young faces, uncertain faces, scared faces, proud faces, faces I learned to call friend
Fifthly faces I never saw before,
Fifthly faces of different faiths, thrown together by faith,
Fifthly faces that had to learn to live together, learn together, fight together
Faces of men big and tall,
Short and fat,
And some like myself, just plain skinny
Faces I would of walked into on the street and never spoke too,
Faces that had to learn to run until they dropped,
Fight hand to hand combat,
Shoot to kill his enemy,
Watch each other backs,
Watch your friends die
At first there were only faces, then names came with those faces,
Cities and states of places we called home,
Faces that never felt the softness of snow flakes melting on their face, throw snow balls,
Faces that never saw the blue of the ocean reaching out to the sky, reflecting the bright light of the moon
Faces that never flew in a plane, rode a train, or sail in a boat,
But all having one goal in mind, wining the war and coming home standing upright
But those faces knew the score, one out of ten of us would never come back alive,
Some of us was going to be blown up, shot up, throats slit in the dark, in a land we couldn't even spell its name
But those faces endured the running drills, the slaps in the face, the kicks in our privates, called out our names, to become soldiers of war,
Wars most people still don't know what it was really all about, wars of political aspect, wars that freed nations,
But regardless of the reason, win or loose, faces paid the ultimate price
I no longer remember the names, I do remember what we endure together,
I remember the color in your face, becoming a none factor, because you had to relay on that face to return home,
I remember the different personalities we all had, the stare of a men who never saw a face of color up close, but learned that all he had heard about those faces were not true,
I remember faces talking about milking cows, riding horses, tossing hay, while others talked about chasing woman, driving their fast car, working in a office, driving a semi truck, exchanging stories of home that we all missed
Then one day it came, we were all fighting men...
Some faces were deployed straight to the war, some went to the unknown, some like myself found themeless in a classroom, learning a trade to support the men fighting in the field
I sometimes wonder what ever happened too the faces I learned to call friend,
Who was the the first too die, who was the last to survive, and if that California nerd ever got to feel the softness of a snowflake, melt on his face...
To the fallen that served their countries, and the ones who like myself, came home to their always worried moms, a Salute to you on this day of recognition....
Thought series is just random thoughts running through my mind, and I capture it on paper...
1Manview © 1999 – 2013
