Looking back over the years, three decades or more ago, we were young and blissfully unaware of how our lives would change. Back then, we were strong, filled with bright dreams but as we entered that war, pain became our companion.
Ah, yes, we were young then, but many of us, here and now can still feel the sickness, the injury, the death... and we still feel the pain... it is all a part of our dreams. We were young then and some returned only in memories, faded photographs or as names chiseled into a black, stone wall.... all of us lost a part of ourselves.
We are no longer young, but deep inside there resides something uniquely ours... hearts that fill with pride when we see the flag popping in the wind, eyes that fill with tears at the sound of taps... and when we meet, we are brothers, bonded forever by war.
copyright, e.w. richardson, 1999