Falstaff

[color=black]I stopped for awhile in a little town to see an old friend and rest my feet.[/color]
[color=black]Crowley country elementary school held a parade through the wide dusty streets.[/color]
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[color=black]youngsters marched in perfect formation down the center of the tree lined lane.[/color]
[color=black]the sang for freedom and they sang for America and they turned and marched back again.[/color]
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[color=black]I stood up from the wooden porch and held my hand over my heart, as they carried pictures of the honored dead and the fallen.[/color]
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[color=black]sons of Ordway, sons of Sugar City and sons of families with their eyes tearful and swollen.[/color]
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[color=black]Somewhere in my heart ignited the flame that burned brighter as each flag passed my by.[/color]
[color=black]to see the children honor the selfliss acts of a few of their own, was enough to make me cry.[/color]
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[color=black]They stood in the center of town and formed a circle to sing the verses from a familiar song.[/color]
[color=black]America the Beautiful, a poem by Kathy Lee Bates, and they held their hands over their hearts as the music played on.[/color]
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[color=black]A wonderful chorus like angels in heaven brought us all closer to our hearts and the words rang true as they children finished the last chorus.[/color]
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[color=black]One child asked for the veterans that stood by the curb to be acknowleged and they bowed to the crowd and we turned and applauded those before us.[/color]
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[color=black]A cheer rang out and we raised our voices for the men and the women who serve our nation night and day.[/color]
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[color=black]I thanked God that I survived two missle attacks and a helicopter crash, bowed my head and quietly walked away.[/color]
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[color=black]A second grade student ran down the street with a handful of flags to give away as he went.[/color]
[color=black]I kindly accepted my little prize and held for a moment and suddenly my heart was spent.[/color]
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[color=black]I recalled the men who served with me and held the line when we could have ran like dogs into the night.[/color]
[color=black]I recalled the fallen, and I prayed for the maimed and injured for we all left with something from that terrible fight.[/color]
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[color=black]Perhaps it takes the lives of our dearest blood, its about the many and not just the one[/color]
[color=black]and I bow to the veterans, the mothers and the fathers, and anyne who waits for a daughter or a son.[/color]
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[color=black]The flame of freedom burned brightly that night, I stood with children and families and men who endured.[/color]
[color=black]freedom was never one in a day, it takes sacrifice, and honor and the blood of our daughters and sons so that America's future, and freedom for all is assured.[/color]
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[color=black](for the 2nd & 3rd ACR, and my brother Colonel Charles Fallang)[/color]

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Drakon

really nice poem, jeff. u portrayed the events very well

Falstaff

you just had to be there, a chorus of children honoring their brothers and sisters, and their fathers and mothers, children of the little towns that you barely see when you drive past them at 75 miles an hour, yet within each little town is a story, a history and a small chapter in the book of freedom that we write every single day....God Bless America, and God bless anyone who seeks freedom and will fight to protect it, for them this is written, for the truest patriot is the soldier for freedom...to sacrifice for freedom is the highest honor, and the greatest goal.

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