We here lots of people say;

He is the outcast of the world

And always in the way.

We admit there are bad ones

From the Army to the Marines,

But the majority you will find,

The most worthy ever seen.

Most people condemn the soldier

When he stops to take a drink or two;

But does a soldier condemn you,

When you stop to take a few?

Now don't scorn the soldier,

But clasp him by the hand;

For the uniform he wears

Means protection to our land.

The goverment picks its soldiers

From the millions far and wide;

So please place him as your equal

Good buddies ... side by side.

When a soldier goes to battle,

You cheer him on the way;

You say he is a hero

When in the ground he lay.

But the hardest battle of the soldier

Is in the time of peace;

When all mock and scorn him,

And treat him like a beast.

With these few lines we close sir,

We hope we don't offend;

But when you meet a soldier,

Just treat him like a friend.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This poem was written in a Japanese POW camp

in Mongolia at great peril to his life

by a Bataan Death March survivor