A VETERANS' FAMILY MEMORIAL HALL OF HONOR |

A VETS' WAR POEMS AND QUOTES

                        The Death of a Soul
                         "Dressed to Kill"
     Did you know that I died in Vietnam?
It was not a bloody death. Only the death of my soul. It was the essence of life that gave wholeness. The link with God and the universe. The inner substance that provides security!

Especially in those desperate hours. It was the Spiritual Self that died. K.I.A. 1968! There was no blood, no tangible evidence, no medal, no letter home announcing the deceased.

No prayers and no tears were shed. Nor has any wall been erected, nor any memorial built.
Nothing! Only a sence of violation. an emptyness a change, an inner void. An ever present sense of loss. the kind of loss you feel when you lose a loved one. A heartache that lingers with you, You are left struggling without your Spirituality or wholeness.
Only Agony remains!

Darwin D. Savage 101st Airborne - Vietnam
"MOM I'AM HOME!"

What Is A Veteran?

A "Veteran" -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to, and including his life."

That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today, who no longer understand that fact.

THE POW-MIA

I'm just a nameless silhouette; nobody knows my face,
. Though many of you pray for me each day;
The man you said you won. t forget, in a dark and distant place.
I am the POW; I am the MIA.

I am a Navy pilot; I am a dead Marine;
I am the wounded grunt they couldn. t find.
But I'm living still, and I. m long dead, and I. m somewhere in between,
And I can. t believe that I was left behind.

They killed me in an ambush, and they captured me alive,
And I died when my Huey crashed and burned.
They over-ran my unit, but I managed to survive,
And they brought me North in chains when they returned.

They beat me and they whipped me, and they worked me . til I dropped.
To break my will, they made their best endeavor.
When great despair had gripped me, still the torture never stopped,
And they told me: . We can keep you here forever..

They told me that my parents died, that my kids were grown and gone; And
my wife lost hope, and married my best friend. But there. s a prayer I
hold inside, that helps me to go on: That someone still remembers, and
you. ll bring me Home again.v

I'm just a nameless silhouette; nobody knows my face,
. Though many of you pray for me each day;
The man you said you won. t forget, in a dark and distant place.
I am the POW; I am the MIA.

Tim Murphy �. 1986

VVA HALL-HOWELL CHAPTER #512