War has tested the core since the days of yore.
Standing tall before they fall,
All gave some and some gave all.
Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters,
Children of the brave,
Fathers and mothers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers,
Nations of kindred never to wave.
Lines of ancestors all the way back, monuments of memory,
Homeland and heritage, liberty and family,
Paid for in the blood of patriots and more blood of the enemy.
Deeds and sacrifice of heroes, bestowed by bards
Down through the ages, steadfast in the face of fear.
Sword and bow, rifle and cannon, rockets and missiles.
Legionnaires, hoplites, river raiders and hussars,
Rangers, cavalry, frogmen, recon and death from above.
Fighting in the field of horror and terror,
Through carnage, death and destruction
Until nuclear annihilation.
Boots breaking ground,
Deserts, jungles, forests, plains and mountains,
Streets and cities the globe around.
Soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen,
Warriors and weapons.
Boom of the Battalion, stomp and shout as one,
Marching to the final call till it’s won.
Fury of the fleet steaming across the depths,
Shot across the bow,
Keel of steel, impervious to bend or kneel.
Scream and shudder of wings overhead,
Flight in the heights bringing death by day or night,
Wading through clod and darkness toward an icy enemy,
Against all odds they achieved a bloody victory.
Bodies and earth scorched by sun, battle unwon,
Alone in the sea, alone in the field, alone in the pit,
Dreaming of a loved one.
Across land, sea and sky,
Driving into the breach of battle to live and die,
Swallowed into storms of gas, bullets and bombs,
Drowning in the roar of men and machines.
Ribbons, patches, pins and medals adorn those who fight,
Blood-soaked camouflage cloaked in Stars and Stripes.
Watery graves, salt-filled sands, moss-filled bogs,
Ashes in the air.
Poppies are placed, crosses are raised,
Monuments on the mound, pillars on the pyre,
Halls of honor and gardens of glory.
Faces of the fallen in petrified perseverance,
Faces of the free in silent remembrance,
Stoic folk,
Our vigilant guardians,
The fabric of our family.
With eternal gratitude and echoed grief,
We swallow the love, pain and loss
Into the bosom of our breast,
Shedding tears from the heart of our chest,
Love and memorial bestowed upon our best.