The following poem was written by my brother-in-law and is forwarded to this forum with his approval for publication. The author is also the Special Projects Coordinator for the State of South Dakota and is one of the major forces behind the South Dakota Vietnam War Memorial Dedication events taking place Sep 15-16, 2006. For more on that event, link to WWW.SDVIETNAMWARMEMORIAL.COM.
Belatti sends!

"Come with me, my Brother; to the past which seems so near;
The past of fallen soldiers and young men overwhelmed with fear;
Fear of loss and fear of death in a place so far from home;
Compelled us all to anger; at times you feel alone.

Come with me, my Brother; tell me of your pain;
The jungle heat, the stench of blood and endless monsoon rain;
I want to know about your friends; the guy who died that day;
Tell me about your demons in that place so far away;

Come with me, my Brother; abandon the lonely road;
For 30 years, you’ve held it in, that very heavy load;
Our time is short; life is dear; Brother, why can’t you see;
That through your tears, I’m here to help and try to set you free

Come with me, my Brother; let’s go and see our parade;
Of flags, of guns, of bands and such; of heroes we are made;
What’s done is done; our time has come; the War has finally past
We’ll cry and hug and celebrate, our welcome home at last

Come with me, my Brother; passing to the light;
One thing to do before we go, knowing that it’s right;
He fought and died just as we; I only wish we knew;
How to heal our wounds with Charlie; for he’s our Brother too.

Come with me, my Brother."

John G. Moisan
Fort Pierre, South Dakota
(US Army – 1LT - 1969-1971)
September 2005