Is this a Dead Young Soldier?

Is this a dead young Soldier?

True, he was born in 1985, on Sept. 24.
He was nineteen.
He went to high school in the small town
	where he was raised.  He played right guard
	for the team, the Trojans.
He had been promised a job in the filling station.
But he wanted something better.  He wanted 
	to get out of town, and so he did.
Fort Dix for Basic, Fort Hood for A.I.T., then the 1st Armored.
His mother worried – she always worried.
His younger brother helped the family keep in touch by e-mail.  
His father had been too young for Korea.  
     But the father talked about his son at the Legion.
		Then a friend, survivor from his unit
			shared some painful knowledge. 
		The friend had only been wounded
			He explained to the family, “It was an
                        I.E.D.”

Homer told us, a long time ago.
“War violates nature.  In peace,
	sons bury fathers.  In war,
	fathers bury sons.”
So now, tell me: 
Is this a dead young soldier?
No, not a dead young soldier  He's just dead..

Advertisement