by William J. Fili
450th BG - - Cottontails
Veterans Day - - formerly Armistice Day - - in 1998 at the close of the second millennium AD found the people of America laying wreaths in cemeteries in remembrance of the fallen Hero's and Americas young Sons. They were gathering in parks where monuments stand erect - - they were standing on the sidewalks watching the parades - - they were eager to participate in the Memorial Services. They were eager to honor all the brave men and women who died and those who served to keep our great land proud and free.
For these honored ones have listened: they listened to:
Voices from the hallowed meadows of Valley Forge - - Voices from the blood stained Battle Grounds at Gettysburg and in the gassed air in the argonne forest.
They listened to: Voices of those who suffered and those who died in the trauma of the Bataan Death March - - Voices from the beachheads of Guadalcanal - - Normandy - - Iwo Jima - - the Yalu river. Voices from the insidious and mind boggling actions in Korea and Vietnam.
They listened to: The pleadings from hungry and tortured Prisoners of War and voices from the graves at Arlington - - in France and throughout the World - - Voices from the brave young men who gave all in the devastating and senseless rubble in Beirut - - Granada - - Kuwait
All these voices seem to be saying:
LET THERE BE PEACE
FOR I TRIED TO LET PEACE BEGIN WITH ME
WHEN WILL IT ALL END
At Freedoms Foundation in Valley Forge is a monument inscribed:
IN MEMORY
OF ALL THE BRAVE WHO DIED THAT WE MIGHT KEEP OUR GREAT LAND PROUD AND FREE
NOT ONLY BY ARMS CAN PEACE BE ATTAINED
PRESENTED TO THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA BY FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR WITH THE PRAYERFUL HOPE THAT THE LEADERS OF NATIONS WILL FIND THE WISDOM TO ABOLISH WAR FOREVER - - THAT ALL PEOPLE WILL LEARN TO LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY - - THAT CARE AND INVOLVEMENT WILL PREDOMINATE AND BECOME THE GUIDING VIRTUES OF THE HUMAN RACE