Editor’s Note: The poem below was written in the past several weeks by Ursula Setlow Pearson who has lived through both World War I and World II.
Veterans Day
Today we honor the men and women
Whose bravery ensures our precious freedom;
A tiny portion of our population,
The segment that protects 100% of our nation;
Americans who serve with pride,
On home ground and worldwide,
Fortunate to have remained alive,
Under circumstances difficult to survive;
People who blend into society,
No boasting, they are cloaked in modesty;
All around us in civilian clothes,
Heroes with whom we rub elbows;
Now in a wheelchair and grown old,
He walked World War II’s precarious Lido Road;
The wizened little grocery-bag man
Returned unappreciated from Viet Nam;
A young man on a short furlough
Returns to a bride he hardly knows.
Why do we wait for a designated day,
When we should bless our veterans every day?
It is said, “This is the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Should we say, “This is the land of the free BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE?”
