'Honor/Remember'

Once it was correct to honor our heroes…

Then the time came when it was not…

Then a time came again when it was correct to honor them…

Soon a time came when we did not…

Once a hero died in battle and everyone remembered…

Once a hero came home and died in an alley and no one heard…

One time we celebrated them...

Then we did not…

What makes them do what none of us are willing to…

Go to another place to help, to build and sometimes to die…

We say it’s for our freedom…

But we don’t understand the real meaning, because we never go to discover it…

Then, why do they do it?

They do it for their brother…

Their sister…

Their mother…

Their father…

Their husband

Their wife

Their son and their daughter

They do it for the soldier next to them…

They do it for you

And they do it for me…

Let history be a lesson… remember them every day and in every way…

For my father

Lieutenant Colonel Bynum Porter Westall

Who died not in battle but in a bed fighting cancer caused by war

And never once did he regret nor complain…

Frank Westall