Memorial Day

[Jeriatric]

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSj4QhPjVO2heCIDIa9jdfl6CK5ka59W z6veXcFP1GbJRRNp_YyfQ

War of Independence 1775-1783

Northwest Indian War 1785-1795

Quasi-War 1798-1800

Barbary Wars 1801-1815

War of 1812 1812-1815

1st Seminole War 1817-1818

2nd Seminole War 1835-1842

Mexican-American War 1846-1848

3rd Seminole War 1855-1858

Civil War 1861-1865

Indian Wars 1865-1898

Spanish-American War 1898

Philippine War 1898-1902

Boxer Rebellion 1900-1901

Mexican Revolution 1914-1919

Haiti Occupation 1915-1934

World War 1 1917-1918

World War 2 1941-1945

Korean War 1950-1953

Vietnam War 1964-1973

El Salvador 1980-1992

Beirut 1982-1984

Persian Gulf (Support) 1987-1988

Invasion of Grenada 1983

Invasion of Panama 1989

Persian Gulf War 1991

Somalia 1992-1993

Bosnia 1995

Afghanistan 2002- ?

Iraq 2003-2011

[acinpcola]

Cold War 1945 - 1991

We lost many an American Warrior during this war. Most of which were during unknown operations.

AC

[grumpybob]

Kind of scary when you list/see all the wars we have been in in such a short time!!

[Bob Denman]

:agree:
6868068681

[ARtraveler]

Quite a list. That kind of puts things in perspective.

[Jeriatric]

Kind of scary when you list/see all the wars we have been in in such a short time!!

True. And the list will surely grow long after we are gone. Tis the way of the world.

[Jeriatric]

Cold War 1945 - 1991

We lost many an American Warrior during this war. Most of which were during unknown operations.

AC

Appreciate the reminder.

[Jeriatric]

AFTER THE WAR
(Tim Irvine)

My name is Billy Johnson. Indiana's my state.

I turned 21 back in '68.

Drafted into the army, sent to Fort Leonard Wood.

When I left my hometown, I prayed it wasn't for good.

His name was Hector Gonzalez, from San Jose.

We got stuck with KP the very first day.

After peelin' potatoes for hours on end,

Hector and I were the closest of friends.

When they put us on a troop jet, and flew us to 'Nam,

Some guy stood up in the back and read the twenty-third psalm.

He talked about walkin' through that valley of death.

I said, "Hector I'm scared." He said, "Just take a deep breath."

When we got off the plane and our assignments came in,

I got sent to Pleiku, he got sent to Long Binh.

He hugged me goodbye and turned around at the door,

And he said, "Don't forget look me up, after the war."

About three months later, he wrote me a letter.

He said some days are rough and some days are better,

And a kid named Gilardo we knew from basic training,

Was missing in action up north. "By the way, I meant what I said before:

Don't forget to look me up, after the war."

I was out on patrol in the spring of '69,

I stepped on a trip wire, took some shrapnel from a mine.

Spent the rest of my tour in a hospital bed,

With a pin in my leg, and a plate in my head.

On the plane ride home, I thought of all I'd been through.

I'd lived nine lives and I was just 22.

And I thought about Hector and what I'd promised before,

And I planned to look him up, right after the war.

Twenty-one years later in Washington, DC,

I was there on vacation with my family.

I went out to that park to see that wall,

And face up to a past I didn't want to recall.

First, I looked for that guy that Hector wrote me about,

He wasn't on the list, I guess he lucked out.

Then my eyes caught a name at the top of the page,

Corporal Hector Gonzalez, 21 years of age.

My throat got tight. My mouth went dry.

I looked up at that wall and I started to cry.

And the memories hit me like incoming fire,

From a time when we were so-o-o young,

Hector wavin' at me from the door,

Sayin', "Don't forget to look me up, after the war."

I lay awake some nights. I can still hear the guns,

Still hear the screams, I can still taste the blood.

I can still see Hector wavin' goodbye from the door,

Sayin', "Don't forget to look me up, after the war."


Copyright Tim Irvine
@war @Vietnam
filename[ AFTRWAR
JD
July01

[vampyregirl]

Thank you to all the veterans out there!!! :2thumbs::2thumbs:

[lookerjdc]

Kind of scary when you list/see all the wars we have been in in such a short time!!

depressing would be a better word....