Memorial Day 2020- “I Hear the Echoes of the Fallen”

I hear the echoes of the fallen…
From Bunker Hill to Hamburger Hill,
From the deserts of North Africa to the deserts of Fallujah
From the jungles of Bataan to the jungles of Vietnam,
I hear the echoes of the fallen…

I hear the echoes of the fallen…
From the slopes of Arlington to the slopes of Normandy,
From the snows of Valley Forge to the snows of Bastogne,
From the fields of Virginia to the fields of Flanders
I hear the echoes of the fallen…

I hear the echoes of the fallen…
From Havana Harbor to Pearl Harbor,
From the trenches of Petersburg to the trenches of Belgium,
From beneath the Atlantic to the bottom of the Pacific,
I hear the echoes of the fallen…

I hear the echoes of the fallen…
From Inchon to Pusan,
From Argonne to Saigon,
From Long Island to Wake Island
I hear the echoes of the fallen…

The echoes of the fallen who gave it their all,
Now sound again the echoes of that clarion call:
“Our message to you, who now live in this land,
Must never forget why, we all took a stand,
To defend for our children, what was our obligation,
To give you this free and independent nation,
So, on this final weekend in May,
Remember all we gave, on this Memorial Day.”

-Drew Nickell, 24 May 2020

© 2020 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
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