VietNam Missing In Action By Service
Army..........................702
Air Force...................899
Navy..........................480
Marines.....................289
Coast Guard..................1
Civilians.......................42
Total Unaccounted For.....2,413
Trapped
A spirit trapped between worlds
There is no closure, no finality
Mortal remains lying, decaying
The body somewhere on some foreign soil.
Abandoned by his country
Forgotten by nearly everyone
Except his brothers-in arms
And his still-grieving family back home.
A woman trapped between worlds
There is no closure, no finality
They say he must be dead
She has a paper, but no proof that he won’t return.
Ignored, as she looks for the truth
Lots of sympathy, but little help
Her life can’t continue until
She knows whether she’s a widow or his wife.
A country still trapped between worlds
There is no closure, no finality
The war that was not a war has ended
The dead have been counted and honored and mourned.
But a number remains unaccounted
The captured and dead left behind
There can be no peace for the survivors
Until all are returned to the country they loved.
Uncounted
The chair sat empty for years after he left
Just waiting for him to return.
She always set his place at the table
At night she let the porch light burn.
Years ago, they told her he won’t be back
But her heart wouldn’t let her believe
He promised he’d come home, the last words he said
As he kissed her and then turned to leave
Her family and friends were supportive at first
Then each slowly sort of backed away
Til she felt all alone as she looked for an answer
Still hoping he’d come home some day.
He’s been proclaimed dead by the Department of Defense
But she wants to believe he’s alive
If she gave up now, without any proof
She’s not sure how her heart would survive.
They tell her give up, he’s not coming home
They tell her get on with your life
But she vowed to be true, til death do us part
On the day that he made her his wife.
In the record book, on the war over there
As a casualty, they list his name.
But the book doesn’t show that for this MIA
Her life was lost just the same.
The Same
The golden sunset over the mountains makes her sad
The same sun and the same mountains as twenty seven years ago
But the man who was at her side then is still gone
He promised to come home,
It would only be a couple years
His country needed him. “Damn it”, she thought, “I needed him, too.”
The mailbox still stands in front of his old home place
Same house and same mailbox as twenty-seven years ago.
But the letters from him don’t come any more.
She stayed with her in-laws when he left
They shared the letters that he sent
When the letters stopped, there was nothing left but emptiness to share.
Her heart is still filled with love for that man
Same heart, same man as twenty-seven years ago
There was no coffin to cry on
There was no funeral to mark his passing
No tombstone to touch to make his passing real.
With no opportunity to let go, she will grieve for him til she dies.
Semper Fi
Semper Fidelis
Always Faithful
Loyal to the End
They were called, they went,
Some did not return alive, some not at all.
In the tradition of their Corps they fought
Like their predecessors, they were brave.
Yet some remain unaccounted
No headstone, an empty grave.
Semper Fidelis
Always faithful
Loyal to the end
They are gone, but not forgotten
Though their country they served so valiantly
Has seemed to have written them off.
Many of us who were there beside them
Still strive to bring each of them home
So their souls and their families can rest in peace
Wings
Wings of steel carried them into the heavens
They flew for the freedom they loved.
They were granted the power to defy gravity
They could not have not flown.
They were destined to soar above the clouds
The earth was not their home.
Wings of fire sought to bring them to the ground
From an unseen enemy below them
Their fragile grip on the sky was torn from them
Their steel wings were replaced by silk
As gravity pulled them relentlessly downward
To the soil that was not their own.
Are they carried aloft, now, on the wings of angels
Are they trapped below in a cage
It’s not knowing if they are free that is haunting us
We are the captives until we know
We are the wives and friends and families of those
Whose last chapter cannot be told.
So, until wings of steel return them to us.
If alive, or their mortal remains
There can be no peace for those who loved them
Until a final goodbye can be said.
So we wait and we pray and we grieve ‘til the day
The wings that they loved bring them home
Victims
I was a young man full of hopes and dreams
My life before me, like a an infinite road
In love with the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen
Then my country called, and I knew I had to go.
Hundreds of thousands of us went over there.
Tens of thousands lost their lives in the fight
Their families received their mortal remains
They wept, buried their loved one, and went on with life.
But some, so very many of us, were not returned home
Neither living nor dead in our families' heart
Were we captured or killed? Could we still be alive?
If there isn't an ending, there can be no new start.
I'm still alive, somewhere, somehow over there.
Whether true, or not, it's what she feels inside
She imagines the horrors of my life as a prisoner
But she won't accept that I must have died.
Did my life end, as a healthy young man
Struck down in that distant war in my prime
Or have I suffered for these many years
Hoping to get home some time.
My country declared that I am dead
There's no grave, no stone, and yet
Nobody wants to remember the victims
Of a war they all want to forget.
In Memory...
In Memory,
She remembers
The first time she felt him move inside her
The first time he took a shakey step
The bouqets of dandelions and weeds he brought her
The crayon drawings on the refrigerator door.
In Memory
He remembers
Passing out cigars to all his friends and co-workers
Buying his first bike when he was only two. He grew into it.
Hours spent at Little league practices and games
Tear filled eyes as he watched him board the plane
In Memory
She remembers
How he was a total pest in the fourth grade
When she finally aggreed to go on a date out of charity
How after their first clumsy kiss, he held all of her heart and her love
How dressed in white, she promised “til death do us part.”
In Memory
They remember
One of the many soldiers buried beneath the crosses
Faces they’d seen in newspapers and on TV.
Stories of valor and bravery that cost these young men their lives
The sound of Taps and rifles fired in salute of their passing.
In Memory
We remember
Our brothers and sisters in service that wore the uniform with pride
The pride and joy and fear that we saw and shared with them
The pain from their loss as a part of us died with each of them
The honor to have served in the company of such heroes as these.
We invite you to follow the links below and visit our VietNam Tribute page and the pages that honor specific men who were listed as MIA.
