Letter's Home - A Tribute to the 1st Infantry Division
They call us ground pounders, grunts, bullet-catchers, epithet the bloody first but we're Warriors, deployed into battle zones on unforgivable terrain, to keep you free
digging a trench or perimeter bunker on foreign dirt, hard as rocks, slimy-mud or scalding sand, tirelessly we dig-in filling bags by pick and shovel or by strong aching hands
with mortars raining, rifles blazing, grenades blasting we fight long and hard, the enemy keeps coming from afar, victorious, we find rare moments of battle rest, when we wearily write a few words in a letter home
days on end we hump, carrying sweat soaked note paper in our soiled fatigue pocket, often stained with our brothers’ blood, until a pause in fighting brings relief time to write love and lies
often untruths, that we'll stay alive and be alright we scribble our words to loved ones back home, hoping our letter finds its way to them, someday, but often not, or buddy delivered posthumously
we will be the first to give our life to keep you free, to save democracy, into battle we headlong run to secure our homeland, and we never forget the fallen we're the proud American Soldiers of the Big Red One.
by Dale Ray Andrews - copyright 2019
Medic, 1st-ID/Vietnam 1967-68
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