Thanks for sharing this, Bill. I'm with Marylyn - this should be
republished. I'm sure the current Marines & Infantrymen could relate!
Betsy
In a message dated 12/1/2007 9:52:32 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
capane(a)verizon.net writes:
November has two official opportunities for expressing appreciation for
what veterans have done for us -- Veterans Day and Thanksgiving..
Campbell Cousin David Walker, a WW2 veteran of the Battle of the Bulge,
recently sent me an old family photo, and a poem my brother wrote in the
Philippines during that war. If I recall correctly, it was published in
Life magazine abt. 1945. Dave's letter came after Veterans Day; and
after Thanksgiving, but even as out thought turn to Peace on Earth and
Goodwill, it's still appropriate to appreciate our veterans.
So here's the poem written by Walter F. Thompson, Jr. (1917 - 1993), who
refused to take disability checks even though he lost a lung and came
home full of shrapnel and very ill with malaria he caught while in a
field hospital in the Philippines. He was my hero even before the war.
I look forward to a time when there will be no more war and no more
young men and women become veterans and have to see and live through my
brother's experiences in the Pacific or Dave's experiences fighting in
Europe and what Dave saw when liberating a concentration camp in Germany.
Some Must Walk
by Corporal Walter F. Thompson
Co. K, 123rd Infantry
Not all are free to roam the sky---
Some have to stay below and walk
Through mines, barbed wire, or screaming shell,
Bright flares, red tracers out of hell;
Close in with bayonet or knife
In silent stalk or noisy strife.
We have to walk
The jungle miles, the desert plain.
A hundred men may die to gain
A hundred yards of ravaged soil.
Unheralded are the deeds and toil
Of those who walk.
When war is over, peace is won,
If I should ever have a son,
I'd say, "I'm proud I walked."
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
CAMPBELL-PA-NELSON-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the
quotes in the
subject and the body of the message
**************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest
products.
(
http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)