Friday, September 11, 2009

America and our troops.

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Freedom Isn't Free
By Cadet Major Kelly Strong
USAF JROTC

I watched the flag pass by one day
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young soldier 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 died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?


How many pilots' planes shot down?
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 buglar 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!

1 comment:

  1. This may sound a little strange, I accidentally fell upon your blog today, but as I read it, I felt like it was no accident! I was touched by your blog posts about happy little things! I am also a single Mom, and today was bit of a hard day. As I read your blog it made me smile, and cry. I just wanted to say THANK YOU!
    Funny thing... I also went to a Kieth Urban concert last week, and I've been to a concert alone too :) (YEAH, who does that??) :)

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