When most of you were in Nam fighting, I was only about 11; but when I got older, I joined the Army. I was stationed at Fort Ord, home of the 7th Infantry...or, it was.

While stationed there, I made a great many friends whom I had come to love very much; and, over the years, the stories they told me about Nam just would not leave me alone.

This is a little something I wrote.

Deborah Roessler-Jones


to the men of vietnam

your youth taken from you
a gun placed in your hand
sent to a jungle
in gods forgotten land

fighting for what?

most didn't understand
with love for your country
and all that it stood for
knowing some of you would die
you went, with heads held high

blood and tears were shed
on the uniforms you wore
you fought for many years
before they called it war

many of you died there
sent home under the stripes you fought for

and for those that made it home
no celebrations
no fancy parades

only a new war
your nightmares

many of you still are there
yet they say

it's over


I wanted to share this with someone who may understand what i was feeling.

At the time of this writing, it was about 1978, and I was 20.

DRJ


Copyright © By Deborah Roessler-Jones, All Rights Reserved

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