As many of you may know, I am a HUGE WWII buff. I mean NO disrespect by posting about something that I have never experienced, but this is my effort to honor those who have served and seen combat with the knowledge that I’ve acquired over my time studying the subject.
Trained, armed, and sent off to war,
He’ll jump from a plane and invade foreign shores,
Certain to face danger from things that go boom,
And see friends’ foxholes transformed into tombs,
The death count climbs and the GI may wonder,
When a life-taking bullet will call on his number,
He fights, he fights, and others question “Why?”
Is it a commitment to duty or a wish to die?
The GI knows that when he is asked,
He can give an answer he’s lived as fact,
“Why put myself in front of enemy bullets?”
“You wouldn’t understand until you’ve been through it,”
After a first brush with death, he realizes then,
His brothers in arms mean more than his kin,
Sharing a shallow hole to fight off their foe,
While forming a bond that no other could know,
As the war drags on and Death gives chase,
The GIs back each other and try to outpace,
The Krauts hit hard and with a loud sounding “crack,”
The GI looks left to see a friend on his back,
When ordered to retreat and leave wounded behind,
The GI turns to his leader and faithfully declines,
“You go ahead, I’m staying here,”
“And giving my brothers nothing to fear,”
Bullets whiz by and he hears bombs blast,
But he is fully prepared to fight ‘til his last,
He sees life escaping, as breaths turn to gasps,
Offering a hand for a comrade to desperately grasp,
He turns to the enemy and points his rifle ahead,
To make the Germans pay with a pile of dead,
Outnumbered greatly and sure to die,
He so clearly sees his reason “Why?”
“This is no quest for glory nor a flex of might,”
“It’s about the man to my left, and the man to my right.”