In the sincere hope that we all remember the true purpose of Memorial Day, I invite you to read a heartfelt appeal by a remarkable soldier poet... who, sadly, is one of those "left behind"...
Thom Reece
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A POEM BY:
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
** Major O'Donnell was listed as MIA while piloting a
helicopter on a mission in Cambodia on 24 March 1970.
His remains were recovered and interred at
Arlington National Cemetery on 16 August 2001.
Lost for 31 years, Major O'Donnell is finally back home.
Major O'Donnell's remarkable poem was scrolled across
the screen at the end of the motion picture, "Hamburger Hill".
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