Touching Memorial Day video tribute
WOW!!!! Another home run speech!!! Had me in tears...thank you President Trump!! God bless our vets and America!!!
ZERO HOUR
by Bradley Van Deusen, my father
Grey stars agleam in a blank, dead sky
Grey guns agrowl below.
Grey clad men out beyond the wire
Grey fields in the star-shells’ glow.
The barrage is a pounding symphony
That ears attuned cannot hear.
There’s something flicking the parapet
There’s something above you fear!
Not fear of “stopping one” above,
Or fear for the man beside.
There’s something flicking the parapet
There’s a fear you cannot hide.
“Stand by!” The rifle is cool in your hand
And your heart pounds hard and quick.
There’s something flicking the parapet
Number Three of the squad is sick.
The rifle hurts the palm of your hand
Like gripping a stiff, wire brush
There’s something flicking the parapet
“Walk slow through the wire, then rush!”
The whistle! The ladders! Up over the edge!
And your legs seem stiff and sore.
There’s something flicking the parapet
Number Three is sick no more!
Grey stars agleam in a blank, dead sky
Grey guns agrowl below.
Grey faces turned to the glowing stars
Where men lie dead in a row.
OLD SOLDIERS’ DRUMS
by Bradley Van Deusen
I’m just too old for drilling
I can’t hike anymore;
So I’m bound for the soldiers’ graveyard
Behind an office door.
They sing - “Old soldiers never die.”
We don’t; we live on crumbs -
The shrilling, splendid bugles
An’ the thunder of the drums!
I won’t do Guard in a snowstorm
An’ I won’t hafta go an’ fire;
It’s just messin’ around an office
An’ waiting to retire.
“Approved per First Endorsement ...”
An’ through the window comes
The music of a Guard mount
An’ the cadenced, throbbin’ drums!
Twenty-three and a butt in the Doughboys;
Why, I’ve hiked a million miles!
But they said my age couldn’t stand it
An’ they detailed me to the files!
This work is nice for some men
Who can take it as it comes.
But you know their hearts ain’t achin’
For the pullin’, poundin’ drums!
D.S. 1/4C. an’ a non-combatant!
When there’s guys tha’d give their life
To piddle around an office
An’ go home at night to the wife.
But I’ll get back to formation;
There’s a day that always comes:
An’ I’ll ride on a painted cassion
With the muffled, sobbin’ drums!
This President's humble tribute to generations of such young heroes was touching in its oratorical simplicity and depth!
No arrogant rhetoric--just heartfelt empathy and sympathy for the families whose losses can never be measured and whose contributions to the freedom of us all must be acknowledged and appreciated!
Thank you, Mr. President!
Memorial Day song http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3556069/posts
Finally, my Dad, Sgt. Jim Burdick (behind, looking on), Saipan, 1944 : 
One of 12 surviving Sergeants out of 22 in his company. Semper fi, carry on.bump for 2018