Lest We Forget

I wear Mr. Read’s bracelet proudly and hope someday he will come home.

As he laid his hands against the name engraved in the granite of black his mind realed in the power and his thoughts drifted back….

They gathered for their country in a humid jungle land
and fought for what was true and right, the ultimate test of man
They fought in heat, they fought in night, and fought in pouring rain
They returned when it was over, but some of them remained.

Incarcerated, against their will, by an evil foe
Their own government turned their back, why, we’ll never know
They knew they were abandoned, yet they held their will
they fought against their captors with the risk of being killed

Not a night goes by that they don’t think about what they left behind
Sons, daughters, and families, of every creed and kind
They’ve been beaten, and tortured, intentionally kept weak
The very freedom they fought for is now all that they seek

Bring them back home, their families cry,
as the politicians they elected turn a blind eye
These imprisoned men gave all that they had
how can we leave them to be treated so bad.

You see their names on memorials and walls
bracelets, pendants, lining building halls
These good men came forth when the urgent call came
But to all too many they are nothing but names

When the feeling faded, he returned from his cloud
wiped the tears from his eyes, and faded into the crowd.

~ Cayle B. Wills, Sergeant, USMC ~