WHEN DADDY WENT TO WAR
He had 5 kids
and had just turned thirty four,
when he received his draft notice
and was called off to the war.
Everyone wondered
how we were going to survive.
Seems somehow we managed,
though I’m sure we didn’t thrive.
I was way too young
to remember those days,
but I heard all about them
while I was being raised.
I don’t even remember him being gone
the way my older siblings do.
Course, he was back home again
before I reached the age of two.
Whatever he did during the war
he didn’t come to any harm
and by the time I turned four
we had bought a little farm.
Even my memories of those days
is really quite obscure.
Is it a memory or was I told?
I’m often not all that sure.
Seems, I remember dad talking
about something called the CC camps
and I know I remember Mom
saving S & H green stamps.
I really couldn’t tell you
about the timing of various events,
the way we lived our lives,
or how our spare time was spent.
This was many, many years
before our first TV.
At night we sat around the radio
my whole family and me.
Most all of our clothes,
we called “hand me downs”
and our mom never owned
one of those fancy evening gowns.
We got welfare for a while
and Dad talked about the WPA.
That was a government program,
way back in the day.
Somehow we all made it through
those difficult early days
and I’m really proud of the family
Mom and Dad worked so hard to raise.
We all knew the value
of an honest days work
and whenever there was a duty
my family didn’t shirk.
Now three different generations
have served our Uncle Sam.
We were in World War II and Korea
though not in Vietnam.
My family has always been patriotic
and it’s a difficult thing to see,
when people put our country down,
or disrespect our democracy.
People say you never served,
why would you support this fight.
Well, my dad, my brother and my son
paid the price to give me that right.
Also, my little sisters two boys,
my father-in-law and his son,
all have worn the uniform,
all have carried a gun.
They saw it as their duty,
not part of a master plan
and, though I didn’t serve
I support our military whenever I can.
Today’s soldiers, like my dad,
probably didn’t want to fight,
but they’re all doing their duty
and supporting them is only right.
Anyway you slice it,
the worlds a better place
because of the US Military
and the challenges they have faced.
When my daddy went to war
that wasn’t his first choice,
but because of him and his Band of Brothers
we still wield the strongest voice.
Copyright 2010 by: Richard Lee King
Author of: A PURSUIT OF LIFE, THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
& THE HINTS BOOK SERIES.
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Ron
Be always safe,
Karen