COLORGUARD -a day for my friends
The banners are
flying , the band is in place .
Along the street the crowd's smiling a
trace,
and the sun is shining, but not on his face.
Police
cars, fire trucks, clowns all in line,
balloons in the air in hopes of a good
time.
Given a number, the groups all await,
the blast of the sirens,the
opening of the gates!
Then the call (Fall In!!!), at attention we
stand
old uniforms and new, don't we look grand?
The uniforms we wore,
when we fought for this land!
Old Glory, the red white and blue, stands
tall on it's pole,
as I remember you brothers, in a cage, or in a rat
infested hole.
In rank and in file as we march down the street,
People
applaud, an old vet salutes, ain't FREEDOM sweet?
Teenagers cry, known
only by old scrapbooks torn apart,
and held by their mothers, possessing a
flag and a purple heart.
People remember the VietNam war it's
true,
But I remember the warrior who gave his ALL for
you.
Today's a grand day but my heart sheds a tear,
for the family of
the VETERAN who couldn't be here.
Brother of mine I can hear you
call,
even though your name's etched on the wall.
You'd be here if you
could, if your country would but try,
instead of denying something some
twenty years by.
There are two thousand five hundred reasons why I march
today,
Two thousand five hundred reasons why I pray.
I wear a uniform
not unlike the one you wore,
when last I saw you, during the war.
Loved
ones surround me as I awake in a cold sweat,
or when I rage uncontrollably,
not knowing why they fret.
Around me my friends are dying, by an assassin
they're hexed.
Agent Orange like a time bomb ticks away, will I be
next?
After years of counseling, mostly giving my all,
I'm in
control of my life, I now stand tall?
Thoughts invade me, will my own
son get the call?
A call from a country who apathetically cares,
a call
from a country, do they really dare?
to send sons into battle, then deny them
their rights.
to send sons into battle, tell them to kill and to fight?
To
come home to loved ones who don't understand,
or who have plotted against
them, for that right they fought and died in that land.
This is
the reason you died my brother, so they'd have the right,
This is the reason
I march my brother, either day or night.
written July 1988
Robert A.
Judd
Agent Orange continues to contaminate livestock and fish
eaten by Vietnamese: HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent
Orange continues to contaminate livestock and fish eaten by Vietnamese decades
after it was used, a study released on Monday showed.