From Dr. Patrick Stine former WWII Head and Neck Surgeon:
For three years I trekked to Castle Point VA Hospital, overlooking the Hudson River above West Point, where I provided clinic services to combat veterans who served in World War II. They went into the conflict as boys knowing nothing and emerged as men knowing too much, their minds forever stained by events that would overwhelm anything else that might happen in their lives.
You"ll find none of them straight, anymore
Like snow-covered branches
They are drawn to earth
Bent, unbowed
They are quick to find your eyes
To see if you could understand
Where they have been, what they have done
Having lived, so young, so close to death
They love a good handshake
Sensing in that moment
Your strength, your heart
If you have ever been to war
They share stories never told
By Ernie Pyle or Victory at Sea
Grateful not to tempt again
The bonds of luck and destiny
Of drinking beer with Germain sailors aboard the Graf Spee
Before she sailed from Montevideo
And found the bottom at her own hand
Of hours on the beach at Normandy
Amazed that he could darken so much sand
And still feel his missing foot
Of plucking oil-drenched sailors from the waters at Midway and Coral Sea
Reading in their vomit
The chances of survival
Of opening the camps
At Dachau and Auchwitz
Praying still it might have been a dream
And now they die
Two thousand a day
We are told
Thankful to have lived so long
Puzzled that their grief
Grows stronger with each passing year
Proud
And to the last breath
Close to tears
God bless our veterans and their families. :)
For three years I trekked to Castle Point VA Hospital, overlooking the Hudson River above West Point, where I provided clinic services to combat veterans who served in World War II. They went into the conflict as boys knowing nothing and emerged as men knowing too much, their minds forever stained by events that would overwhelm anything else that might happen in their lives.
You"ll find none of them straight, anymore
Like snow-covered branches
They are drawn to earth
Bent, unbowed
They are quick to find your eyes
To see if you could understand
Where they have been, what they have done
Having lived, so young, so close to death
They love a good handshake
Sensing in that moment
Your strength, your heart
If you have ever been to war
They share stories never told
By Ernie Pyle or Victory at Sea
Grateful not to tempt again
The bonds of luck and destiny
Of drinking beer with Germain sailors aboard the Graf Spee
Before she sailed from Montevideo
And found the bottom at her own hand
Of hours on the beach at Normandy
Amazed that he could darken so much sand
And still feel his missing foot
Of plucking oil-drenched sailors from the waters at Midway and Coral Sea
Reading in their vomit
The chances of survival
Of opening the camps
At Dachau and Auchwitz
Praying still it might have been a dream
And now they die
Two thousand a day
We are told
Thankful to have lived so long
Puzzled that their grief
Grows stronger with each passing year
Proud
And to the last breath
Close to tears
God bless our veterans and their families. :)
