This is the poem my grandfather wrote when he was in the Pacific in WWII.

Thank you for sharing this. My dad served in Germany in WWII. My thoughts and prayers for you, your grandfather, and all the vets, past and present, who served our country! 🇺🇸

Thank you, basdjs. Prayers for your family too. Did your father serve only in Germany or did he serve in France, Belgium on the way there?

My grandfather never told anyone about the poem. He died in 2000. My father found it dated and signed amongst his belongings. My brother retyped it and overlayed it on one of the photos of his time over there.

Your grandfather just cured my dry eye and administered a couple dozen flashbacks.

Thanks for posting that.

Everyday should be veteran's day! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

Thank you for sharing the poem.

I'd like to acknowledge all of my family, friends and acquaintances who have worn this country's uniform in peace and in war. Happy Veteran's Day!

Semper Fidelis.

StarchedCover

Whenever I see a vet, I thank them. If they ask yes, I served.

Thanks to - and prayers for - ALL who have served!

MarineHawk,

Thanks for posting. My father fought in the Pacific in WWII. He saw heavy combat in Lauzon, Manila, Leyte islands among others. I sure do miss him. He told me the Jap's were brutal. He had lots of stories of very close combat in the jungles and exchanging hand grenades at the mouth of caves with the Japs.

I served in the Army from 1976-80


Happy Veterans Day. Thanks to all that have served.

Your Granddad was pretty good with a pen!
Basdjs what unit was your Dad in?
My Old Man drove a half track in the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, part of the 2nd Armored Division.
He went into Normandy on D-Day plus 3, 9 June.
I was lucky. My service in the Army didn’t involve much hardship other than some damn cold nights in Yakima Firing Center and some heat and dirt in the same. I never had to endure getting shot at!
All in all, it was a cheap price to pay for the friendships I made, the fun I shared with my comrades and the absolute blessing of being an American!
Reon

That's quite a poem. Thank you. Generations of my family have served.

Semper Fi, Guy

Thank you for posting that.
Happy Veterans day to all my BIA's

It has been 52 years since my Vietnam tour, but I think about it almost every day. Mom and Dad were both Army in WWII, so my service was natural.

As I recently wrote, I weep to know that today, my own family votes for the same socialism I fought to end. They don't know they are, but it's true.

I sat next to a guy yesterday who was wearing a "VietnamEra Veteran" ball cap. I thanked him, but he seemed defensive about it. Nonsense. If you served, you' are a veteran. It was only luck that you didn't get sent to that hell hole. There is more to a spear than the sharp tip.

We lose veterans every day. Whenever one dies, a library of history burns to the ground. Things like that poem need to be saved.

Great poem........thanks to all who have served.

Been just over 52 years since they handed me my DD-214 and I never looked back. I was scheduled to get to Vietnam in the spring of 1970, but in January 1970 Pres. Nixon cancelled my ( and a lot of other guys), free all expense paid trip to Vietnam. At the time, nobody knew why, until that summer when they announced troop reductions, and then we all knew. In hindsight, and from what some of my buddies who went to 'Nam have told me, it was probably a stroke of good luck for me. I was always glad that I never had to be exposed to Agent Orange; the only problem is that I spent most of my time at Camp LeJeune N.C. drinking the chemical laced water. I was the 3rd generation of my family to serve, my dad was a U.S.N. combat vet in WW2, and his dad served in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps in WW1. I always think of my grandfather on this day, as he was in France, probably in a trench, on this day in 1918. It would have been nice to hear about his recollection of 11 A.M. that morning. He passed in Dec. of 1960 at age 67 when I was 10, and my dad always said that WW1 was something he very rarely spoke of, so we never got much oral history about it.

Well said Rocky !! I served in USAF 6-62 ...6-66

Dad also served in Czechoslovakia because he could speak Slovak, but I’m not sure if he fought in any other country. Not sure what unit either. Like so many other vets, he never spoke of the war and I never asked…one my greatest regrets!

Great poem MarineHawk! I especially like the third verse.

Happy Veterans Day to all veterans!

USN Submarines 64-68

What an excellent poem! Thanks for posting it. Happy Veterans Day to all that served. And a big THANK YOU to all of you.

This day, I remember our family members buried in the far flung battlefields all over the world, from all of the wars this country has ever been engaged in, plus the little wars and battles in places no one has ever heard of, except the ones that died there.

To a veteran, Veteran's Day feels like Memorial Day.
Memories of those who gave all.
Thoughts of brothers and sisters in arms you lost touch with.
A recounting of things done and the price paid for service and devotion to country.

"All gave some, some gave all."

That was excellent.. TY for that post.

From ex-USN Submariner, '66-'69.

Thank you all for your service. I was a Jarhead - 1990-98, including Desert Storm.



This is Manilla. My grandpa is the one in the white T-shirt.



More of his pics from Manilla: