One Comes Home..The Sadness of War

by Valis 14 Replies latest social current

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  RAYZORBLADE

  Somebody's son; somebody's brother; somebody's grandson; somebody's (possibly) father/husband; somebody's nephew; somebody's cousin; somebody's friend; somebody cared - lots of them, and they showed up in droves.

  Valis: what a wonderful thread.

  I would have shown my respects, regardless. This lad was almost old enough to be my son.

  He was no more than 23 years of age. Makes one think doesn't it.

  He may have been a soldier, but he was a human being with 23 years of life...taken away from him.

  The stories he could tell.....I am glad people remembered him, honoured him. Perhaps his memory, his life story will be forever told over and over.

  Many respects to James M. Kiehl, whomever you were. You made a difference, to someone, somewhere.
• 

  wednesday

  My son was in Kosovo,and Albania. I don't think i slept the entire time he was there. he is just slightly older than the young solider in your pic.

  Life is precious and the loss of it is tragic.

  No matter how noble his death, he is gone. His family will always be without him.

  War, even when necessary, is tragic.
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  Yerusalyim

  SPC James M Kiehl of Comfort, TX was 22 years old. He was killed in action on 23 March 2003 at an' Nasiriya, Iraq. I have his photo in front of me now and will try to post it later.

  And yes, I've seen it, close up sometimes.

  SFC Michael A. Cavalier

  US Army
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  Ravyn

  this song makes me cry.

  Ravyn

  ---------------------------------------------

  WILLIAM MCBRIDE

  Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside,

  I'll rest for a while in the warm summer sun

  I've been walking all day, Lord and I'm nearly done

  I see by your gravestone you were only 19

  When you joined the great fallen of 1916

  I hope you died well and I hope you died clean

  Or young Willie McBride was it slow and obscene

  Chorus:

  Did they beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,

  did they sound the death march as they lowered you down ?

  and did the bugles play the last post and chorus ?

  And did the pipes play the flowers of the forest ?

  Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind

  In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined

  And though you died back in 1916,

  To that loyal heart are you forever 19 ?

  Or are you a stranger without even a name

  Enshrined there forever behind a glass pane

  In an old photograph torn and tattered and

  stained

  And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame ?

  Chorus

  Did they beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,

  did the guns fire o'er you as they lowered you down ?

  and did the bugles play the last post and chorus ?

  And did the pipes play the flowers of the forest ?

  The sun's shining now on the green Fields of France

  The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance

  The trenches have vanished long under the plough

  There's no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now

  But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land

  And the countless white crosses in mute witness stand

  To man's blind indifference to his fellow man

  And a whole generation who were butchered and damned

  Chorus

  Did they beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,

  did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down ?

  and did the bugles play the last post and chorus ?

  And did the pipes play the flowers of the forest ?

  And I can't help but wonder young Willie McBride

  Do all who lie here with you know why they died

  Did you really believe it when you answered the call

  Did you really believe that this war would end wars ?

  Well your suffering, your sorrow, your glory, your shame

  Your killing, your dying, it was all done in vain..........

  'Cos young Willie McBride it all happened again,

  And again, and again, and again and again.

  Chorus

  Did they beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,

  did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down ?

  and did the bugles play the last post and chorus ?

  And did the pipes play the flowers of the forest ?
• 

  outnfree

  Very touching, Ravyn and Valis.

  I felt heartened at my husband's church that each Sunday they read the name of that week's Iraq War casualties. We were kneeling as the names were read, and it got long.... If you have old knees like mine, you'll understand that doing that roll call at that point in the mass made us feel a little more reflective and a little more uncomfortable about sending young men and women off to die.

  Loss is terrible, but loss can be noble. Thanks to those who gave their lives in the service of their country.

  out