Across
the fields of yesterday
They sometimes come to me.
Young men, hard
at war;
The boys they used to be.
In my mind, I see their faces
As the memories begin.
I wonder of the men they became,
And of all the might have beens.
Through the years, much has passed,
And surely I've grown older.
Yet, I sometimes pause to yearn a bit,
To be once more a soldier.
Cowboy
The troopers called him Cowboy,
Cause they couldn't pronounce his monika. His name was hard to say and spell,
Our Lieutenant Polonitza.
The 3rd Platoon was his home,
Where brotherhood was a trust.
To fight and win, to persevere,
Constant courage was a must.
The fight was fierce, the climb was tough
And the enemy fire was steady.
He led the way up the
hill,
Our bayonets were at the ready.
Troopers recall the day we took that hill,
And earned our modest fame.
And think with pride of our deeds,
And the Lieutenant with the unusual name.
Point Man
Leonard was our point man,
On this there was no doubt. Whenever we were in battle,
The enemy he would rout.
Day by day, month by month,
His body count was mounting.
When someone asked, how many now,
Leonard simply said ... who's counting.
Reflections
|
This is about Marty...and proudly is his
story,
The saga of his men ...their honor and their glory.
A noble trooper for sure ...it was often said,
As were the young soldiers ... that Lieutenant Marty led.
From Tuy Hoa to Mang Yang, Bong Song to Pleiku,
Marty and his men ... they did it all for you.
So if on parade ... you see his troopers pass,
Bow your head in thanks ... they've all come home at last.
The Shootist
Of all the guys in Company A,
Juan was certainly the cutest. As bullets flew and mortars roared,
He proved to be a shootist.
Juan, he was a little guy,
And that we all could see.
But when the chips were down,
He always was ...Airborne Infantry.
Blooper
Rockwell, he carried a funny gun,
We troopers called the blooper.
A deadly weapon we all agreed,
When fired by this trooper.
In times of stress as bullets flew,
We had no need to worry.
Jim could always make it right,
Our soldier from Missouri.
Medic
My good friend, Bobby Elkins,
Was a hero we all agreed.
Doc was a combat Medic,
That very special breed.
When bullets flew and troopers fell,
It was Bobby that gave them aid.
Bobby was the best of us,
And Airborne all the way.
RTO
Bill, he was our RTO,
Some said, the Captain's favorite.
But whether napalm, mortars or HE rounds,
Bill could always call it.
In the heat of battle, in the dark of night,
When the sit rep did look bleak,
For napalm, mortars or HE rounds,
To them ....our Bill would speak.
XO
Erle, he was our 1st Lieutenant,
A natural combat leader.
He came to us from mortars,
Where they fired willie peter.
He was there the day the Captain fell,
And to Erle ...fell command.
Taking charge.. he ordered us to attack,
So we did ... and the enemy they ran.
Sarge
He was re-condo airborne,
And that was plain to see.
The Duke was a combat leader,
And Ranger
was his creed.
Move swift, be silent, Duke would say,
And stay alert ... it was a must.
A seasoned Sergeant, that was true,
Whose orders you could trust.
Lieutenant Gill
Gill, he was a 2nd Lieutenant,
Just out of Yale.
He was tall and skinny,
Sorta like a rail.
That day in the paddy,
He rallied the attack,
As the bullets sang past,
With a whine and crack.
We remember the fight
That fateful day still,
And the tall skinny Lieutenant,
That we all called Gill.
Wounded
Mike was a trooper,
With the Alpha Raiders.
When attacked, he went forward
Calling "better now then later!"
He fired a rocket, his aim was true,
And hollered "rockets away!"
Then, in the hip he took a round,
But, lived to fight another day.
Above The Rest
He was always there, standing tall,
He was with us day and night.
Unrelenting, he never wavered;
He rallied us to the fight.
There are some men you don't forget;
They're remembered above the rest.
One such man whose name is Isaac,
Was our venerable Sergeant Guest.
Banyan Tree
Remember that big old Banyan tree
That grew down by the golf course?
It had grown there for a hundred years,
A grand tribute to nature's force.
I'd often sit and watch that tree,
From a low lying nearby hill.
And wonder now after all these years,
Is that big old tree...there still? |
