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Old 11-15-2006, 20:16   #31
Noslack71
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Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,


The clustered spires of Frederick stand
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.


Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple and peach trees fruited deep,


Fair as the garden of the Lord
to the eyes of the famished rebel horde,


On that pleasant morn of the early fall
When Lee marched over the mountain-wall;


Over the mountains winding down,
Horse and foot, into Frederick town.


Forty flags with their silver stars,
Forty flags with their crimson bars,


Flapped in the morning wind; the sun
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.


Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;


Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;


In her attic window the staff she set,
To show that one heart was loyal yet.


Up the street came the rebel tread,
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.


Under his slouched hat left and right
He glanced; the old flag met his sight.


"Halt!" the dust-brown ranks stood fast.
"Fire!" out blazed the rifle-blast.


It shivered the window, pane and sash;
It rent the banner with seam and gash.


Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff
Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf.


She leaned far out on the window-sill,
And shook it forth with a royal will.


"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag," she said.


A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came;


The nobler nature within him stirred
To life at that woman's deed and word;


"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.


All day long through Frederick street
Sounded the tread of marching feet:


All day long that free flag tost
Over the heads of the rebel host.


Ever its torn folds rose and fell
On the loyal winds that loved it well;


And through the hill-gaps sunset light
shone over it with a warm good-night.


Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er,
and the Rebel rides on his raids no more.


Honor to her! And let a tear
Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.


Over Barbara Frietchie's grave,
Flag of Freedom and Union, wave!


Peace and order and beauty draw
Round thy symbol of light and law;


And ever the stars above look down
On thy stars below in Frederick town!


My father was a sailor with Arleigh Burke and " The Little Beaver Squadron " DESRON 23 during WWII. This poem was in a small book of poems and patriotic readings given to each crew member by the citizens of (I belive it was either San Francisco or Long Beach CA) just before they sailed out to the Pacific in early 1942. This poem was one of his favorites. He kept the book and, read it often until his death.
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Old 11-21-2006, 13:04   #32
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El "Q" has returned

Been out of the net for awhile. Checked Laments and saw some exceptional stuff. keep 'em comimg guys. This thread is appreciated by all.
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Old 03-21-2007, 08:07   #33
frostfire
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when the going gets tough...

this always remind me of JM Sir

SEPTUAGENARIAN SOLILOQUY


I must admit I creak a bit
When out of bed I stumble;
I'm growing old, I feel the cold,
I grunt - but never grumble.

I suffer as my lumbar discs
Disintegrate and crumble;
It cramps my style and all the while
I grunt - but never grumble.

My prostate gets me up at night,
I eructate and rumble;
The wind of change has got my range;
I grunt - but never grumble.

I'm getting very clumsy too
And often take a tumble;
And then you see, I twist my knee
I grunt - but never grumble.

And when I do my daily chores
My thumbs and fingers fumble;
When washing up breaks plate or cup
I grunt - but never grumble.

I find it difficult to bend
And when I talk I mumble;
But though I curse, it might be worse,
I grunt - but never grumble.

So whether fate has cast your lot,
In quarters grand or humble,
Pull up your socks, my fellow crocks,
I grunt - but never grumble.
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"we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" Rom. 5:3-4

"So we can suffer, and in suffering we know who we are" David Goggins

"Aide-toi, Dieu t'aidera " Jehanne, la Pucelle

Der, der Geld verliert, verliert einiges;
Der, der einen Freund verliert, verliert viel mehr;
Der, der das Vertrauen verliert, verliert alles.

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Last edited by frostfire; 04-13-2007 at 14:00.
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Old 03-21-2007, 08:34   #34
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"The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him, to ride their horses and take away their possessions, to see the faces of those dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in their arms" Ghengis Khan

"A commander in chief therefore, what power and dignity are so great and to whose fidelity and bravery the fortunes of his country men, the defense of our cities, the lives of the soldiers, and the glory of the state, are entrusted, should not only consult the good of the army in general, but extend his care to every private soldier in it. For when any misfortunes happen to those under his command, they are considered as public losses and imputed entirely to his misconduct" Flavius Vegitius

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, then go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsel or arms, crouch down and lick the hands which feed you, may your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen"! Samuel Adams

"It has been my experience that superior people are attracted only by challenge. By setting our standards low and making our life soft, we have, quite automatically, and unconsciously, assured ourselves of mediocre people." From the Ugly American

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of mind that thinks nothing is worth fighting for is far worse" John Stuart Mill

"There are no victories at bargain basement prices" Dwight D. Eisenhower

"There is no security on this earth, only opportunity" Fred Smith

"Our object ought to be to have a good army rather than a large one" George Washington (15 September 1770)

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world" Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The Republic never retreats. Its flag is the only flag that has never known defeat. Where that flag leads we follow, for we know that the hand that bears it onward is the unseen hand of God. We follow the flag and independence is ours. We follow the flag and nationality is ours. We follow the flag and oceans are ruled. We follow the flag, and in Occident and Orient tyranny falls and barbarism is subdued. We followed the flag at Trenton and Valley Forge, at Buena Vista and Chapultec, at Gettysburg and Mission Ridge, at Santiago and Manilla, and everywhere and always it means larger liberty, nobler opportunity, and greater human happiness; for everywhere and always it means the blessings of the greater Republic. And so God leads, we follow the flag, and the Republic never retreats" Albert J. Bevridge

"You cannot be saved by valor and devotion to your ancestors. To each generation comes its patriotic duty, and upon your willingness to sacrifice and endure, as those before you have sacrificed and endured, rests the national hope" Charles Evans Hughes

"The man who loves his country on its own account and not merely for its trappings of interest or power, can never be divorced from it, can never refuse to come forward when he finds that she is engaged in dangers which he has the means of warding off"

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"

"If you expect a nation to be ignorant and free, you expect what never was and never will be"

Thomas Jefferson
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De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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Old 03-21-2007, 19:10   #35
Russell S
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At some point before my insertion into Pineland during the Q course, one of the guys on my team (from one of the Ranger BNs) pulled out a poem from WWII written by an SS soldier if I remember correctly. I used to have a copy of the poem but can't find it.... As I recall, it talked about the things a soldier faces in fighting for his country.

Might anyone have any idea about the poem? I know this is not a lot to go on....
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Old 03-21-2007, 19:21   #36
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Prayer to St. Peter

I was sent a CD of different songs during my last deployment, and this song, "Prayer to St. Peter" as sung by Edwin McCain, was on it.

"Prayer To St. Peter"

Let them in, Peter
For they are very tired
Give them couches where the angels sleep
And light those fires
Let them wake whole again
To brand new dawns
Fired by the sun
Not war-times bloody guns
May their peace be deep
Remember where the broken bodies lie
God knows how young they were
To have to die

You know God knows how young they were
To have to die

Give them things they like
Let them make some noise
Give dance hall bands not golden harps
To these our boys
Let them love Peter
For they've had no time
They should have bird songs and trees
And hills to climb
The taste of summer
And a ripened pear
And girls as sweet as meadow wind
And flowing hair
And tell them how they are missed
But say not to fear
It's gonna be all right
With us down here

Let them in, Peter
For they are very tired
Give them couches where the angels sleep
And light those fires
Let them wake whole again
To brand new dawns
Fired by the sun
Not war-times bloody guns
May their peace be deep
Remember where the broken bodies lie
God knows how young they were
To have to die

You know God knows how young they were
To have to die

And tell them how they are missed
But say not to fear
It's gonna be all right
With us down here

It's gonna be all right
With us down here
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Old 03-22-2007, 07:55   #37
Ladyhawke
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I believe in what I fight for
And I have paid for it with pain
I am here because my contributions
May help turn this fate away

And all who stood by and did nothing
Who are they to criticize?
The sacrifices of others
Our blood has bought their lives

Cruxshadows--Eye of the Storm
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Old 03-22-2007, 11:43   #38
VAV1500
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Sassoon and Owen

Is anyone here familiar with the works of Siegfried Sassoon or Wilfred Owen? Two young men who were soldiers in the first world war, serving for Britain. Owen perished, but Sassoon survived, was decorated as a hero (his nickname in the trenches was "Mad Jack"), and went on to protest the poor treatment of soldiers to the British government. Their poems seem (IMHO) to be some of the simplest and truest accounts of soldiering, and are filled with a moral fury. I don't have time to seek out the entire verse, but a piece (from memory, so bear with me if its wrong) that I always liked from one of Sassoon's poems...

"...You smug-faced crowds, with kindling eye,
who cheer when soldier lads march by,
creep home and pray you never know,
that hell where youth and laughter go."
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Old 03-22-2007, 15:03   #39
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dulce et decorum est

I believe one of owen's poems was "Dulce Et Decorum Est" which I've always found to be a haunting reminder of what this nation and many others have faced on the battlefield.
I'm sorry if I missed it, but did anyone post "Invictus?" William Henley's poem has always given me a stronger resolve in the 11th hour.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
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Old 03-26-2007, 09:10   #40
Torleif
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The Killing House

trained to the peak, and wound up with a pin
waiting to release the explosion within

target selected, adrenaline kicks in,
getting ready,
to release the explosion within

approaching the target the walls look so thin
protecting our targets, our targets within

filter in just like shadows, the ball starts rolling
and its time to begin
some arsehole in whitehall , has just pulled the pin

your brothers around you, the door get's blown in
you move into the darkness, you know where to begin
to release on your targets, that explosion within

its over in seconds, your brothers are in
all releasing their explosions their explosions within

everything is all calm now, but adrenlin still kicks in
as you filter back thro, the walls your within

checking all you survey now, all desruction and sin
your brothers around you, the shits been flyin

you check the faces around you
your brothers and kin, then pause for a second
to look for your pin

and now your a civie, with your loved kith and kin
and try a new start, a new start to begin
and keep it all bottled up,that explosion within:
but who gives a fuck:

you cared, you dared, you won


Unknown twentytwo soldier.
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Old 04-08-2007, 01:29   #41
helicom6
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What If?

What if I am gone,
Who will look after my sons?
Will they know to ask for the twenty one guns?

I have asked them to believe
In the reasons why I must leave.

I fight for our country,
For my sons to know life's bounty.

Time is short, but love holds true,
Your Daddy is fighting for the red, white and blue.

The time has come for us to say good bye,
I know that God holds us up on high.

I will do my best to stay alive,
Even when I meet the enemy's deadly hive.

This I hold as true,
A duty I must do.

To fight for those that have no freedom in their lives,
A fight without compromise.

You will do the same one day,
Let not my courage fade to grey.

Believe, in life's solitude ,
That my service will be in gratitude.

My sons will be great men,
who will live under God's right hand.

I love you Kyle, Caleb and Alden!!
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Old 08-31-2007, 12:56   #42
frostfire
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Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

-unknown
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"we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" Rom. 5:3-4

"So we can suffer, and in suffering we know who we are" David Goggins

"Aide-toi, Dieu t'aidera " Jehanne, la Pucelle

Der, der Geld verliert, verliert einiges;
Der, der einen Freund verliert, verliert viel mehr;
Der, der das Vertrauen verliert, verliert alles.

INDNJC
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Old 09-21-2007, 17:23   #43
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Mercenary

Mercenary
"What God abandoned, these defended." Houseman

He was a Nung:
Chinese, born i South Vietnam,
when that was a country.
He lived as a paid soldier;
one of our "little people,"
as loyal as money and promises
for family can secure.

I called him "Louie,"
because some other before me,
some other in a one-year-at-a-time war,
tagged him with that,
maybe five or six Americans ago.

Standing beside him mad me feel tall,
at five-ten;
but he smiled under the huge rucksack
whose weight seemed always on the brink
of dragging him backward.

Louie was not exactly a friend,
we were partners i war,
but I was the advisor
he, the student who taught:

hired to protect in those lonely sectors
whose names, if there were names,
rang strange tones,
even in Vietnamese ears;
places where U.S. forces did not go
--officially.

My bodyguard: a constant--
always there,
had always been there, it seemed.
An extension, doubling the senses,
buying the luxury of thought,
one mind guarded by the other.

When thought was shattered:
when ripping sniper bullets splashed
against the canopied silence like rocks
slashed by handfuls into a placid lake:
the shield that he was protected,
but his heavy load
finally pulled him down.

Others did the necessary things,
and sudden quiet wrapped around.

Kneeling beside Louie,
cupping hands under him
as if to catch and save
all that blood;
my fingers could not hold enough
to give back
what we had bought.

From: "Finding the Way Home"

by Tom Drinkard, MACV-SOG 67-68
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Old 09-22-2007, 05:39   #44
Richard
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Re: Barbara Frietchie

Quote:
Originally Posted by Noslack71 View Post
Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;
I always liked this poem which, according to many respectable Civil War sources, was written in strict conformity to the account of the incident . It has since been the subject of a good deal of conflicting testimony, and the story was probably incorrect in some of its details. It is admitted by all that Barbara Frietchie was no myth, but a worthy and highly esteemed gentlewoman, intensely loyal and a hater of the Slavery Rebellion, holding her Union flag sacred and keeping it with her Bible; that when the Confederates halted before her house, and entered her dooryard, she denounced them in vigorous language, shook her cane in their faces, and drove them out; and when General Burnside's troops followed close upon Jackson's, she waved her flag and cheered them. It is stated that May Qnantrell, a brave and loyal lady in another part of the city, did wave her flag in sight of the Confederates. It is possible that there has been a blending of the two incidents.

An interesting side note, Winston Churchill recited the poem to FDR while driving through Frederick, Maryland. It is said that the President was embarrassed that Churchill knew more about this piece of American history than he did. FWIW, our school is named after Sir Winston Churchill and he knew more about a lot of history than many ffolkes did.

BTW - DESRON23 was home ported out of San Francisco.
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Old 10-25-2007, 17:36   #45
bricklayer
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This is a newer song and im not sure if he wrote it. But I suggest listening to it if you have not heard it already!

BY Tim McGraw:

If you’re reading this
My momma is sitting there
Looks like I only got a one way ticket over here
I sure wish I could give you one more kiss
War was just a game we played when we were kids
Well I’m laying down my gun
I’m hanging up my boots
I’m up here with God
And we’re both watching over you

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed that it would go.
If you’re reading this I’m already home.

If you’re reading this
Half way around the world
I won’t be there to see the birth of our little girl
I hope she looks like you
I hope she fights like me
Stands up for the innocent and the weak
I’m laying down my gun
Hanging up my boots
Tell dad I don’t regret that I followed in his shoes

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
is where my momma always prayed that it would go
If you’re reading this, I’m already home

If you’re reading this,
There is going to come a day
You move on and find someone else and that’s okay
Just remember this
I’m in a better place
Soldiers live in peace and angels sing amazing grace

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma prayed that it would go
If you’re reading this
If you’re reading this
I’m already home
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