Here's a good picture for the day-

THE PRICE
America, America.
Oh what a land.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
For every woman, child and man.

But such a gift,
Did not come without a price.
So let us never forget those,
Who made the ultimate sacrifice.

It started with,
The shot heard around the world.
The patriots and British,
Fighting at Lexington and Concord.

And, continued at Valley Forge,
With Washington's winter of discontent.
But, he rallied his men,
And they defeated the Hessian the British had sent.

The Revolutionaries won,
The final showdown.
The beat the British,
And Cornwallis at Yorktown.

In the War of 1812,
Mr Key saw through the rockets glare.
That over Ft. Mc Henry.
Our flag was still there.

The Mexican American War,
Gave us "Remember the Alamo."
A lot of frontier hero's fought there,
And on to eternal glory they did go.

Then the bloodiest war,
Anyone had every seen.
The Civil War caused the most casualties.
Of any in our history.

At the battles of,
Antitem, Gettysburg, and Shiloh,
Oh, how the blood,
Of those young men did flow.

Finally, that war too ended,
And, true to Lincoln wish,
The government of the people, by the people and for the people,
Did not perish.

Next, the Spanish American War,
And, the charge up San Juan Hill.
Ah, to have rode with Teddy
Must have been a thrill.

Then, came World War I
Unlike any seen before.
It was called,
The war to end all wars.

Hero's like Sgt. York fought then,
And the Red Baron as well.
But, the men in the trenches
reconfirmed "war is [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot]."

We learned to fight with,
Planes, tanks and even poison gas.
Eventually this war,
Like all war also passed.

World War II,
Started with the attack on Pearl Harbor.
That was when FDR,
Said "No more."

We hunted the Desert Fox,
And then stormed into Sicily.
Up through Italy,
And defeated Mussolini.

To the beaches of Normandy,
Where the tides ran red.
From the bodies,
Of the men who lay dead.

We marched through Europe,
On our way to Berlin.
The Russians came, too.
And, soon Hitler reign came to an end.

The Japanese fought us hard,
From Midway to Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima
The war ended when we,
Destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

We went to Korea,
To act as policemen.
The battles raged on,
And it seemed to never end.

The Chosin Reservoir
Was a mass retreat?
We fought so hard,
That it wasn't quite a defeat.

Finally, the talks at Panmunjong.
Decided enough men had died.
We didn't win and,
It ended in a tie.

Next came Vietnam,
The war that raged on for years
But, for the men who fought there
They suffered some of their greatest fears.

For the men who fought and died,
At places like Hue and Khe Sahn.
Their ghost and memories may be forgotten,
But they are not gone.

And, lastly when Saddam,
started a storm in the Persian Gulf.
We responded by,
Sending "Stormin' Norman Swartzkoff."

Saddam promised "The mother of all battles."
Well it was more like the uncle of all retreats.
America and the Allied Coalition,
Handed Saddam a very swift defeat.

Let us not forget the mothers, wives, and sweethearts.
Whose tears fell down like rain.
When the got the letter,
Informing them their boy wasn't coming home again.

So, here's to the Army, Navy, the Air Force and the Marines.
And all the battles they have won.
To the red, white and blue.
The colors that never run.

So, let us remember,
Whenever we are together,
The price paid for,
The wings of liberty not to lose a feather.

Because the liberty and freedom,
We hold so dear,
Was paid for in,
young blood, cold sweat and bitter tears



I wrote this back in 99 or 2000