Military

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY AT CHRISTMAS

 Dan and Jim -- I am VERY PROUD of YOU -- I love you -- Mom

INSIDE A MOTHER'S HEART

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As I stood and watched the boy now turned into a man,

Standing straight and tall marching before our stand.

There was my child, my son, dressed in military blue.

Inside your mother’s heart, was tremendous pride for you.

The trials that you endured to get you to this spot.

You’re the only one who knows the dedication in your heart.

As I proudly watched the parade pass by us in review.

Inside your mother’s heart, was unending love for you.

Although we knew the time might come when you would get a call.

To go and serve your country and stand where other’s fall.

It’s something we rarely spoke of because word’s could never say.

What would happen to your mother’s heart when you went away.

And now the time is here and I watch the news and pray.

Please God protect my son—keep him from harm today.

I feel a sense of pride because of what and who you are.

But inside your mother’s heart is the beginning of a scar.

A scar that grows with each day and it drives me to my knees.

Seeing bombings, lighted skies, gas masks and fatigues.

Dear God, protect my son and other sons as well.

Your mother’s heart now knows what it’s like to be in hell.

The hardest part for me is there is nothing I can do.

I sit and watch the news like my body can’t be moved.

I hope to catch a glimpse of you or perhaps to see an end.

Let’s get on with this war and bring you home again.

And so I sit and bear the pain that’s in this mother’s heart.

I am the mother of a Marine so I must play the part.

I must make you as proud of me as I am now of you.

The only thing left in this mother’s heart is her love for you.

TO MY SON, A UNITED STATES SOLDIER

by R. Dalton 8/29/2002

Once I cuddled you, watched you at rest
Once I fed you at my breast
Now you’re one of our nation’s best
You’re a United States soldier.

I dried your tears and bandaged your knee
When you wanted comfort, you came to me
Now you’re defending the Land of the Free
You’re a United States soldier.

Once I told you never to fight
Unless you were standing for what is right
Now you help make up America’s might
You’re a United States soldier.

The day you left, I thought I would die
I hated for you to see me cry
How could my boy, my sweet little guy
Become a United States soldier?

Graduation day was emotional and fun
Two hundred new soldiers, each an Army of One
You said “I made it, Mom!”…I said “Hooah, son!
You’re a United States soldier!”

You’re still my baby; it will always be so
Whatever you do and wherever you go
But you’re also a man, one I’m proud to know
You’re a United States soldier.

      DAN RIBBON

 MONSTERS AND THE WEAK

The sun beat like a hammer, not a cloud was in the sky.
The mid-day air ran thick with dust, my throat was parched and dry.
With microphone clutched tight in hand and cameraman in tow,
I ducked beneath a fallen roof, surprised to hear "stay low."

My eyes blinked several times before in shadow I could see,
the figure stretched across the rubble, steps away from me.
He wore a cloak of burlap strips, all shades of grey and brown,
that hung in tatters till he seemed to melt into the ground.

He never turned his head or took his eye from off the scope,
but pointed through the broken wall and down the rocky slope.
"About eight hundred yards," he said, his whispered words concise,
"beneath the baggy jacket he is wearing a device."

A chill ran up my spine despite the swelter of the heat,
"You think he's gonna set it off along the crowded street?"
The sniper gave a weary sigh and said "I wouldn't doubt it,"
"unless there's something this old gun and I can do about it."

A thunderclap, a tongue of flame, the still abruptly shattered;
while citizens that walked the street were just as quickly scattered.
Till only one remained, a body crumpled on the ground,
The threat to oh so many ended by a single round.

And yet the sniper had no cheer, no hint of any gloat,
instead he pulled a logbook out and quietly he wrote.
"Hey, I could put you on TV, that shot was quite a story!"
But he surprised me once again -- "I got no wish for glory."

"Are you for real?" I asked in awe, "You don't want fame or credit?"
He looked at me with saddened eyes and said "you just don't get it."
"You see that shot-up length of wall, the one without a door?
before a mortar hit, it used to be a grocery store."

"But don't go thinking that to bomb a store is all that cruel,
the rubble just across the street -- it used to be a school.
The little kids played soccer in the field out by the road,"
His head hung low, "They never thought a car would just explode."

"As bad as all this is though, it could be a whole lot worse,"
He swallowed hard, the words came from his mouth just like a curse.
"Today the fight's on foreign land, on streets that aren't my own,"
"I'm here today 'cause if I fail, the next fight's back at home."

"And I won't let my Safeway burn, my neighbors dead inside,
don't wanna get a call from school that says my daughter died;
I pray that not a one of them will know the things I see,
nor have the work of terrorists etched in their memory."

"So you can keep your trophies and your fleeting bit of fame,
I don't care if I make the news, or if they speak my name."
He glanced toward the camera and his brow began to knot,
"If you're looking for a story, why not give this one a shot."

"Just tell the truth of what you see, without the slant or spin;
that most of us are OK and we're coming home again.
And why not tell our folks back home about the good we've done,
how when they see Americans, the kids come at a run."

You tell 'em what it means to folks here just to speak their mind,
without the fear that tyranny is just a step behind;
Describe the desert miles they walk in their first chance to vote,
or ask a soldier if he's proud, I'm sure you'll get a quote."

He turned and slid the rifle in a drag bag thickly padded,
then looked again with eyes of steel as quietly he added;
"And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,
that we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak."

Michael Marks

MILITARY PRAYER POINT

http://www.faithflashes.com/mpp.htm

A YEAR IN IRAQ -- THE MISSION  http://www.defendamerica.mil/flash/oif7.html

THE NATIONAL WWII MEMORIAL -- DIARY IN PICTURES  

http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/wwiimem/flash.htm

A TRIBUTE TO OUR TROOPS!!!

ntact us here.

JamesPeter Matthews Army Winsted, CT

 

 

DANIEL MATTHEWS

UNITED STATES MARINES
WINSTED, CT

 

 

 

 

Rev. Lin McGee    Pastor.Lin.McGee@gmail.com       

111 Marshall St.   Winsted, CT   06098       Phone 860-379-1298

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Military Ministry  http://www.militaryministry.org/

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Post #296 VFW Ladies Auxiliary   www.vfwpost296ladiesaux.com

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American Soldier Memorial Project http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AmericanSoldierMemorial

  No Soldier Left Behind  Memorial    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NoSoldierLeftBehindMemorial/