My mind takes me back

To those days in the forties,

Where warplanes were many

And airmen flew sorties.

I can never forget the days

When thousands went their ways,

To fight sweet Freedom's battle,

With the machine gun's rattle.

The sounds of mighty engines

On bombers galore

Answered the war's call

Back in forty-four.

The throaty cough of the Boeing

Engines after being "pulled through",

Way back in the distant past,

Back in the year of forty-two!

Do you still hear those sounds,

And still see those memorable sights,

After all the passing of the days,

And all through the sleepless nights?

Do you remember the first B-29

Along the hard-stands in a line?

Can you hear that terrible roar

As they lift their loads to soar?

Do you still stand in awe

Of all that you saw,

And all that memory hears,

Of that ringing in your ears?

The war may be o'er

The sounds we hear no more,

Yet the sights and sounds

After sundown make their rounds.

When veterans lie down to sleep,

Still their vigils keep,

Remembering friends who sleep

On land and in waters deep.

Robert Copeland, young co-pilot

Of the B-29 in the sky,

Back in forty-five crashed to earth,

In Kobe, Japan, to die.

But Robert, we remember you

And all that you gave,

And where you died

No flowers on your grave!

I lay this rose upon the ground

Where faded roses are never found,

Where you lie is hallowed sod,

Known to few men and to God!

Oh, the sights and sounds of war

Are ever with veterans all,

For we remember all our friends

Who answered Freedom's call!

Sleep on comrades true,

For we owe our lives to you;

We promise to keep reminding all

That Freedom is worth a soldier's fall.

---written by a veteran of

WWII, for whom the war

is not through!

Copyright © C. Douglas Caffey
All Rights Reserved