In Memoriam

In addition to those who died in the Revolution, or 1812, this post is for
the ur-uncle who died of dysentery in camp in Maryland after being drafted into the Civil War, leaving behind a wife and an infant daughter...
for Special Ed, who went crazy in Korea and finally bought the farm after working as a chaplain after 9/11, taking his own life in an apartment in Brooklyn,
this is for my uncle Richard who got malaria in the Phillipines, in WWII, suffered from depression ever after, and walked into a commuter train on his way home from work,
or here's to another great Uncle who killed my great Aunt, the suffragette, in Jersey City, the man who suffered horrible jealosy after he got a plate in his head in The Great War,leaving his children motherless,
or for guys who came back from WWII and then drank themselves to death,
or for the guys in wheelchairs who live in the VA hospital, , the ones I've sung to with the Al Jolsen Society, who can't quite remember who Al Jolsen was,
For those Working Class HEROS and HEROINES, who hold down the Fort while the rich guys in DC move the troops around like so many chess pieces,
for my cousin, the Navy nurse in Bethesda Naval Hospital, on call this weekend, dressing burn victims,
to the Jarheads out in the desert, breathing Iraqi dust, who are honestly trying to win Iraqi hearts and minds, giving away candy to the little kids,
for the soldiers named Gonzalez or Rodriguez or Jimenez, without citizenship, fighting for the US because they want to be part of, (and will get, if they survive, citizenship, just like my Great Grandfather did, in the Civil War)..
.for the kids who are driving HumVees down RPG Alley,
for the soldiers in Afghanistan sincerely looking for Osama Bin Laden (even though the president has said he doesn't think about him very much) , bless you and keep you. Your aim is true.