Poem for the end of a war

B-29 air raid damage in Hachioji, Japan, 1 Aug. 1945

The End and the Beginning

After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won’t
straighten themselves up, after all.

Someone has to push the rubble
to the side of the road,
so the corpse-filled wagons
can pass.

GI hooks a tow rope to a Type 97 Te-Ke tank during cleanup of the Okinawa battlefields at the end of WWII in 1945.

Someone has to get mired
in scum and ashes,
sofa springs,
splintered glass,
and bloody rags.

Someone has to drag in a girder
to prop up a wall,
Someone has to glaze a window,
rehang a door.

Photogenic it’s not,
and takes years.
All the cameras have left
for another war.

We’ll need the bridges back,
and new railway stations.
Sleeves will go ragged
from rolling them up.

U.S. and Japanese soldiers collaborate to rebuild Japan

Someone, broom in hand,
still recalls the way it was.
Someone else listens
and nods with unsevered head.
But already there are those nearby
starting to mill about
who will find it dull.

From out of the bushes
sometimes someone still unearths
rusted-out arguments
and carries them to the garbage pile.

Those who knew
what was going on here
must make way for
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.

In the grass that has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out
blade of grass in his mouth
gazing at the clouds.

The author was located by Hilary Custance Green –  it is Wislawa Szymborska.

(Translated from Polish by Joanna Trzeciak)

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

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Military Humor – 

“WHO SAYS THE NAVY CLEANS UP BETTER THAN THE ARMY?”

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Farewell Salutes – 

Edward Burst – Cannelton, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. G/511/11th Airborne Division

Francis Flaherty – Charlotte, MI; US Navy, WWII, Ensign, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)

Tom Freeman – Frostproof, FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, radarman, USS Abercrombie

E.H. ‘Jack’ Hoffman – Canton, OH; US Army, WWII, Corps of Engineers

William Long – NY; US Navy, WWII, PTO & CBI, Corpsman, USS Repose & LCI-1092

Robert A. McKee – WI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, radioman, gunboat LCI-70

Donald Hugh Moore – Carrolton, GA; US Navy, (Ret. 34 y.)

Guy Natusch (99) – Hastings, NZ; RNZ Navy, WWII, ETO, Sub-Lt.,  / Hawkes Bay architect

Thomas Roycraft – Jacksonville, FL; US Navy, Korea (Ret. 20 y.), USS FDR, Lake Champlain + others

Harold Wagner – Cincinnati, OH; USMC, WWII, PTO

Poem – “The Conversion”

From the C.B.I. Theater of operation Roundup newsletter came this poem of wisdom.  Just something to keep in mind – no matter what theater of operations OR which war the veteran emerges from….

THE CONVERSION When bugles sound their final notes And bombs explode no more And we return to what we did Before we went to war The sudden shift of status On the ladder of success Will make some worthy gentlemen Feel like an awful mess. Just think of some poor captain Minus all his silver bars Standing up behind some counter Selling peanuts and cigars And think of all the majors When their oak leaf’s far behind And the uniforms they’re wearing is the Western Union kind.

Shed a tear for some poor colonel if he doesn’t feel himself Jerking sodas isn’t easy When the eagle’s on the shelf ‘Tis a bitter pill to swallow ‘Tis a matter for despair Being messengers and clerks again A mighty cross to bear. So be kind to working people That you meet where ‘er you go For the guy who’s washing dishes May have been your old CO.

Published 6 October 1944

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Military Humor – 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Daniel Barnett – Goodlettsville, TN; US Army, Korea, RHQ/187th RCT

“You Are Not Forgotten”

George W. Biggs – Nogales, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII. Tuskegee airman / Korea & Vietnam, B-47 & B-52 pilot / US Customs Service

Harold L. Dick – Tipton, MO; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Gunner’s mate 2nd Class, USS Colorado, KIA (Tinian)

Lloyd Gruse – Baltimore, MD; US Navy, WWII  /  US Army, Korea & Vietnam

Virdean (Davis) Lucas – Newton, KS; Civilian, USO, WWII

Ramon Maldonado (103) – Carriere, MS; US Army, WWII

Isaac Parker (17) – AK; US Navy, WWII, Mess Attendant, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)

Steve Stibbens – Dallas, TX; USMC, Vietnam, Gunnery Sgt. (Ret. 20 y.), Bronze Star, Stars & Stripes journalist

Andrew Vinchesi – Malden, MA; US Navy, WWII, pilot

Lloyd Wade – Westminster, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division

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JULY 4, For those who sacrifice for the freedoms you so enjoy!

Somehow this post went backwards 8 months, so I’m reblogging it.

Pacific Paratrooper

HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.A.

Let’s show our support!

In Vietnam, Korea and World Wars Past

Our Men Fought Bravely so Freedom Would Last

Conditions Where Not Always Best They Could Be

Fighting a Foe You Could Not Always See:

From Mountain Highs to Valley Lows

From Jungle Drops to Desert Patrols

Our Sinewy Sons Were Sent Over Seas

Far From Their Families And Far From Their Dreams

They Never Wrote Letters Of Hardships Despair

Only Of Love, Yearning That One Day Soon:

They Would Come Home, They Would Resume

And Carry On With The Rest of Their Lives

The P.O.W.¹S Stood Steadfast

Break time for the prisoners.
by: Ben Steele, POW

Against the Indignities And Cruelties Of War

They Could Not Have Lasted as Long as They Did

If They Had Relinquished Their Hope That Some Day:

They Would Come Home, They Would Resume

And Carry On the Rest Of Their…

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