Amy L Hodges
ENC3310
Vietnam Tribute
12-3-97

How do you tell someone what it's like to treat a boy who has been killed by
a land mine, has a bayonet run through his guts, or has a sniper shoot him
in the face and it turns out to be a woman holding the weapon?  How do you
explain the eight year old boy who throws a hand grenade and blows off the
legs of a mother's only son?  How do you tell them what it's like?  Or about
the sunsets on the mountains or the green of Vietnam, or the sounds and
smells, and the people?  There was nothing any of them could say.  So, most
of them rode home in silence and never told their stories, yet it is our
duty to keep their dreams alive!

Remember
 

Lost in a moment,
the wishes,
the dreams,
the excitement,
the hopes
of a whole nation,
a whole generation
who sent to war,
a score
of learned men
who led our boys
to die.
Why?
We watched
in amazement,
horror and pain,
as we lost
so many of our boys,
and their joys
barely left behind,
their eyes burning
so young,
so full of hope,
so bright,
the fight
too long,
too sad,
the pain
too bad,
the wounds
too deep
until finally
our brave soldiers rest
in eternity's arms,
their names remembered,
printed in stone,
yet they never came home,
no more hugs,
or tears,
Nothing...

we must not forget,
we must not grow old,
our hearts must love
and remember those above,
we must remember them,
the brave boys who died...
not in vain,
unless we forget
their pain,
their tears,
their defeat,
their bravery,
and smiles,
that war was
so long ago,
so many miles,,
in a land
so hot,
so green,
so mean,
caught in a place
where hope is intertwined
with lies,
but we must remember...
our friends,
our boys,
all whom we lost to Vietnam.

Submitted by:
Jim Ormsbee "Bee"
Warwagon, D Troop, 3/5 Cav
12/68 - 12/69 Dong Tam & Vinh Long