Not everyone is having a Happy Fourth - ARE YOU?

Question

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.


No, freedom isn't free.

Answer 1

i'll tell this to my frined in the army...thanks...he will like it

Answer 2

Of course no freedom is free. The poem was pretty good. They recall the events very well. Maybe you should do announce those kind of poems at special memorials. We had to fight for the freedom several times; in the Revolution, WWI, and WWII. We will always be fighting for freedom especially freedom from evil. I, however, am having a Happy Independence Day. I hope you are too.

Answer 3

That's a reality check if ever there was one. Very good poem!

Answer 4

That is so sad...yet very fitting...we should all remember these words...not just today, but everyday! Thank you!!!

Answer 5

Thank you for that.