Just before school got out yesterday my teacher asked me to read this over the intercom for Veterans Day since I am the closest to shipping out in our school right now. Wasn't sure I was up to it, since I thought I'd get all choked up, since my family is military. As follows...
<TABLE class=poemtable><TBODY><TR><TD>Freedom Isn't Free
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=poemauthor>by Major Kelly Strong USAF</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE class=poemverses><TBODY><TR><TD>I watched the flag pass by one day
It fluttered in the breeze
A young soldier saluted it, and then
He stood at ease
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No - Freedom isn't free
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives
I thought about a graveyard at the
Bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No - Freedom isn't free!</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE class=poemtable><TBODY><TR><TD>Freedom Isn't Free
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=poemauthor>by Major Kelly Strong USAF</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE class=poemverses><TBODY><TR><TD>I watched the flag pass by one day
It fluttered in the breeze
A young soldier saluted it, and then
He stood at ease
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No - Freedom isn't free
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives
I thought about a graveyard at the
Bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No - Freedom isn't free!</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I watched the flag pass by one day
It fluttered in the breeze
A young soldier saluted it, and then
He stood at ease
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No - Freedom isn't free
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives
I thought about a graveyard at the
Bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No - Freedom isn't free!
As you are going about you day tomorrow, remember why we are out of school. Remember the sacrifices that have been made and are going to be by our past, present, and future men and women in the armed services.
First Sergeant Krum, our local Army recruiter happened to be in the building with one of his recent Basic Training graduates from our school.
I think I made him cry. So did I.