VIETNAM

"Only the dead came home"

After over a quarter of a century, it's now plain to see.

What for so long has been hurting me.

I watch the returning troops from Desert Storm

I see how their "Welcome Home" is wonderful and so warm.

It only makes me cry and weep, wondering what I did wrong?

When I came back, there were no welcomes for us, or no song.

Most of those you ask have no reply.

So my question is still "why, why, why?"

I spent a year in rice paddies with death all around.

My 8,760-hour war sure makes the 100-hour war not much of a sound.

So, just shrug me off and let me moan.

But for Vietnam Veterans, only the dead came home!

Chaplain Howard Flexer

Vietnam War Veterans

Flagstaff & Memorial

Danielson Conn.

NOTE: I wrote this after "the Gulf War". It was published in VIETNOW Mag.