When Dough Boys came to turn the tide
in World War I, Great-Grandpa died
with many Argonne Forest mates.
Guam's blood-soaked beach is where Gramps fell,
his limb blown off by mortar shell,
with others shipped back home in crates.
My dad was killed in Vietnam,
Jeep sabotaged by VC bomb,
I'm in Iraq. What fate awaits?
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| Writing Prompt |
Write a poem, any type, about the members of the military present and past. |
Author Notes
artwork courtesy of FreakingNews.com
This is NOT an autobiography, but a tribute to all those families who have lost fathers, sons, cousins, etc., in American wars. The price some families have paid is unbelievable. We all owe them much more than we can say.
Dough Boys--the name given to American soldiers who finally entered the Great War in 1917.
The Battle of Argonne Forest was a major battle eventually won by the Allies, but at a tremendous cost in casualties.
The Second Battle of Guam in 1944 was the first of many in an attempt to reclaim islands lost to the Japanese in the South Pacific.
VC--the Viet Cong. These were the insurgents in South Vietnam who joined forces with North Vietnamese regulars.
The "story" of this war ended a few years ago as most of the fighting for American troops today is focused on Afghanistan, but Iraq is still in turmoil.
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