Richard D. Preston

THE SILENT PATRIOT

American born under the red white and blue
he was no one special from his point of view
He grew up in a small town just an average Joe
But when his country called he was willing to go
He joined the Marines, The Few and the Proud
His actions and words didn’t speak very loud
Then he went to war near the DMZ
Fought for his life and the land of the free
He fought in the jungle; he fought in the streams
He fought on the hillsides; he fought through the screams
He saw life taken, took some of his own
had some taken from him, he never whimpered or groaned
He returned to his home town; no parade or fanfare
His friends turned their backs said you shouldn’t have went there
He endured the ridicule from a nation without care
He sealed his own soul with the thousand yard stare
He has seen more in one lifetime than a man ought to see
What he doesn’t see walking, he sees in his dreams
He lived his own life but he lived back in time
His heart was so broken that he took his own life
There is no memorial for this victim of war
He died in the background behind a closed door
He lived his own hell in a country that forgot
An unseen casualty,

The Silent Patriot