As you celebrate the first day of summer with friends over a backyard barbecue
On the Memorial Day pause to honor the sacrifices our vets went through
Before firing up the grill make a pilgrimage to a veteran's cemetery and plant several flags
If you know any aging veterans call them and wish them well if their spirits sag
If you run a business perchance
Try to hire a vet to their prosperity advance
Or consider a donation to the Fisher House or Homeward Bound to help vets with their bills
Don't be surprised how a conscience rewarding donation will improve your grilling skills©
May 29, 2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Please enjoy the following Memorial Day Poems by the Alaskanpoet:
Memorial Day 2023 for
General Old Age
On this Memorial Day
General Old Age is overflowing with joy
16.3 million men and
women in uniform in WWII who were deployed
Of almost all who
survived to return, all but 167,284 life still enjoy
The youngest who served at wars end were teen aged girls or boys
And now aging men and
women at age 96
With fading memories
of the tyrants they licked
General Old Age knowing the last vet in 2036 will most likely expire
Believes he has done his job well and should make plans to retire
His replacement
Colonel Old Age
Is ready to against the Korean War Vets the death battle wage
1.78 million men and
women in uniform served in the Korean War
The youngest vets now
alive are 88 hoping the Grim Reaper’s not knocking at their door
The Korean War was the
Forgotten War or then called a “Police Action”
Too many civilians looking
for more goods and services it was only a distraction
240,000 reservists who had
served in WWII were called up and to Korea sent
Very soon the army became 1/3 regular army and 2/3 draftees who into the army
went
Unlike WWII, there were no lines at the recruiting stations to enlist to the
Communists fight
But the suffering for those
who served in combat went on day and night
Outnumbered clinging on to Pusan by a slender thread
Until MacArthur landed at Inchon, forcing the North to retreat or be dead
His march to the Yalu
while miles and miles away Marines to the Chosin Reservoir advanced
Spirits high, the war
would be over, at home by Christmas was the chant
When thousands upon, upon thousands of Chinese who had the Yalu secretly
crossed
Attacked, forcing the UN
forces to retreat or suffer greater loss
Past Seoul lost again and
then taken back for the 2nd time
To a fighting stalemate for over 2 years on the 38th parallel line
To finally end in an armistice on July 17, 1953
No win for the U.S. and for its returning veterans no parades to see
More so than ever these
vets
In the “Forgotten War” their sacrifices we must not forget
If we do not praise,
honor, support and award them their due
This nation’s days may be numbered as more enemy threats to us grew
And supporting these vets we must know and remember well
There is another group of
vets who also went through Hell
With Major Old Age ready
to combat against the vets of the Vietnam War
The youngest of whom are
68 and who endured even more severe blood and gore
© May 29, 2023 Michael P.
Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
General Old Age
Veterans’ Day
They answered the call by the millions, regardless of inner doubts or
parents' fears,
Whether by draft notice or marching to recruitment, some even lying to
be able to volunteer.
This was a war not for gold, honor or to occupy another's land,
No, this was a war to not let the gains of tyranny gel and stand,
Dropping plow, lathe, apron, even books and all manner of tools of
trade,
A river of men and women to don khaki and join in the Great Crusade,
Ours was not a warrior nation, in standing armies we stood among the
world almost last,
In every prior struggle once done, our armies and navies faded quietly
into the peaceful past,
Our navy was our oceans that made
Deeper and wider and more protected than any fortress moat,
No planes no matter how fast or how high they could soar,
Never, ever could they bring the horsemen of war upon our shore,
Our army was
Behind each tree and wall, a citizen armed to cause deadly loss,
Or so it seemed, until that early, peaceful December Sunday morn,
In two hours our fathers' and grandfathers' generation in an instant was
reborn,
From the sleep of isolation, a nation island in restful and secure
peace,
To now chain the dogs of war others saw fit to unleash,
16 million Americans in the colors soldiered and served,
Over 400,000 never reaped the long life they so richly deserved,
These Crusaders lost a few battles and suffered a few defeats,
From time to time either orderly or in disarray they were forced to
retreat
But the best generals the Axis could ever put upon the field,
In the long run each and every one died or had to yield,
The oceans soon became guarded American lakes.
No enemy admiral would ever survive in our seamen's wake,
Our airmen drowned out the sun with deadly, lethal planes,
Our foes fell from the skies like the monsoon rains,
There was not a general or admiral they could not best, their deeds fill
many a page,
Save one general with forces all would wish never to have to engage,
Yet the battle has at last been joined and throughout this land it will
rage,
This general takes no quarter, there are no prisoners and the war is in
its final stage,
The men and Crusaders of summer in the winter of their lives are meeting
General Age,
More leave the field of battle daily than the carnage of their blackest
days,
We have hindered his march, but soon we will no longer be able to delay.
Armies reducing to Corps and then to Divisions and then to Brigades,
The numbers of the Greatest Generation slowly continue to fade,
Regiments to Battalions, then to Companies and then to Platoons and then
to Squads.
While we still have the time, it is they we should honor and laud,
For sadly, soon there will only be empty reunion halls,
Full only of the memories of heroes who answered the call.
And the prayer that this General will soon never, ever have to fight
again such a war,
There will be no combat veterans aging and waiting their turn to storm
an eternal peaceful shore.
Michael P. Ridley aka
The Alaskanpoet
www.Alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
©
September 16, 2007
Memorial Day
Most
of us have already lost our grandfathers, fathers and uncles and yes a few
mothers and aunts,
Who
without hesitation picked up the rifle, ferried the planes or riveted within
the plants.
Brothers
too and friends have left to the sound of a final bugle note,
Each
year, too many finally collapse and the living with a grateful flag hail the
dark man’s boat
A
nation of heroes, who joined the great democracy against the evil tyranny
stage,
Who
beat them all are now yet so mortal, finally are now ravaged by General Old
Age,
This
was the Great Crusade; this was the great and final blow.
Cross
upon cross or star, silent to the horror of death or maim.
I
see the crosses and the flags and the veterans of Chosin,
Not
yet ready, but thank God fewer to be carried across to that eternal lawn.
Amidst
the music of the sixties and a nation’s soul battered, split and asunder torn,
Another
band of brothers without parades only a granite wall, the spirits are slowly
worn
Only
in the quick war in the sands where blood is kept and not massively shed,
Spares
the thankful who did not endure what any sane one would dread,
But
who watch the heroes slowly walk slower and slower across the stage,
The
victims of the certain victor, the General of old advancing age,
Wonder,
when the trumpet calls and the only bond is brotherhood and total fear,
Will
another generation crusade into history, bands of brothers without peers.
Or
pray for gratitude the world will be finally at last the place,
Where
all the youth live to grow old in God’s loving grace.
Michael
P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
©May
31, 2004
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