Tammi's World

The flag flutters in the morning breeze
That carries the brassy notes from a single bugle
Across silent hills and over uncovered heads
A wreath adorns the unknown warrior in his final rest
While countless others sleep nearby

This day these are honored with gun salutes
And remembered with their families’ tears
But why were they taken from us at their prime?
Did they not deserve the blessing of long life?
Would they not wish to hold their children
and see their daughters marry?

What did they purchase with their youth and their lives?
A lonely cold sleep in neat rows?
Or the playing of memorial Taps?
NO! Their price was far too high
They bought the future for their children and ours

O yes! And much more.
For it was they who gave us free air to breathe
And to others, lands where oppression is no more
Because of them tyranny has not replaced common rule
Nor has free will been fettered

Because of them despots and dictators tremble
And whole nations have been set free
Let us remember them now for what they have done
Not for what they might have been
For surely their spirits soar now
into the sun with the eagle

And their country is grateful
For it sent them into harm’s way
And they went, because it was their duty to go
Now it is our duty to remember
And to never forget