Memorial Day in the United States is a holiday that is intended to honor those who have fallen in the service of the United States while wearing the uniform of one of its Armed Forces. The Wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, pictured above, commemorates that fact starkly, listing the names of those who fell.
M*A*S*H, although it was set in Korea was commenting about Vietnam. But the line I remember best is when it took one of its early turns for the serious from the funny. When in a very bleak moment after hours of exhausting meatball surgery, Colonel Blake told Hawkeye, “Rule number one is young men die. Rule number two is doctors can’t change rule number one.”
The following poem is one I found in a thin, stained, stapled, well, calling it a paperback dignifies it considerably, from high-school. Variations of it still can be found on the net, all attributed to that great poet, Anonymous. Set at the time of the Vietnam War, it still chills.
But You Didn’t
Remember the time you let me borrow
Your new car and I smashed the fender?
I thought you’d kill me
But you didn’t
And remember the time I spilled my
Coke
On your new rug?
I thought you’d kill me
But you didn’t
Remember the time I flirted with the guys
to make you jealous?
I thought you’d drop me
But you didn’t
And the time you brought me to the beach
And you said it would rain?
And it did
I thought you’d scream I told you so
But you didn’t
I wanted to make all these things
Up to you
When you came home from Viet Nam
But you didn’t
The picture at the top of the post is from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. and is part of Wikimedia Commons. The photographer is Hu Totya and the photo is used with permission.
That graphic says it all.
I loved the poem, so touching.
Thank you to all the veterans out there and especially to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Thank you for sharing this message. The comment from M*A*S*H is so true … We all need a reminder from time to time 🙂
Lauren
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That poem has stuck with me for a lot of years. The hope, the normalcy, all gone in an instant. I’ve always wondered who wrote it.
But that scene from M*A*S*H is etched in my mind.
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