Veteran's Day

"Upon The Other Side"

Upon a distant battlefield,
A desperate fight was waged.
Attack! Fall back! Attack again;
The swirling battle raged.
"It seems like only yesterday,"
The aged veteran thought.
But many years had passed away
Since those young men had fought.

He searched the marble monument
To find his comrade's name,
A friend of many years ago
Who in that war was slain.
And finding that stone marker there
Among our honored dead,
The white-haired veteran read the name,
And this is what he said.

"I've come to see you one last time,
Old comrade, tried and true.
Though many years have come and gone
I've not forgotten you.
We lived and shared like brothers then
When we were young and proud.
We trained and ate and slept and fought
Shared good times late and loud.

We thought we were invincible
Until that awful day,
When you were killed at my right side
While I survived the fray.
Though other battles lay ahead
I made it through the war,
But when you died, a part of me
Was lost forevermore.

I made it back to our hometown
Just like we hoped we would.
Got hitched, had kids, a job, a house,
And life was pretty good.
The years have rolled away so fast,
You'd think I'd lose the thought,
Of how we lived and how you died
And battles that we fought.

But some things never leave one's heart
Or fade with passing years.
The memory of the friends we've lost
Will often bring the tears.
Well, I've grown old and tired with age
While you're forever young.
I've lived the dreams that we both shared
And you had not begun.

But as the twilight falls on me,
And life ebbs like a tide,
I'll ask that you keep watch for me
Upon the other side.
Upon the other side, my friend,
Where you can be my guide.
I'll look for you when I have crossed
On to the other side."

- Carl E. Dearborn. PFC, F/2/25

(as noted in Gyrene by Capt. Wilbur D. Jones, Jr.)