It Happened Long Ago

She said, "Why don't you just forget it?"
It happened long ago.
The deepest wounds cut to the heart,
Will always heal so slow.

The nightmare of the Mekong,
Of Death,
Despair,
and fear.

Can not be left in Vietnam,
Its fresh,
its crisp,
its here.

My body's strong.  My mind is sound.
I suffer from no pain.
But once a man has been to war,
He's NEVER quite the same.

For I know war for what it is,
No glory in the fight.
It's friends who die and crippled kids,
and voices crying in the night.

I know the chill of the monsoon rain,
the heat of the tropic sun,
the lonliness and the heartache,
the power of a gun.

For some it never happened
And most will NEVER know.
Except for those who fought the war,
It happened long ago.


Danny "Badger" Crafton
3/187 Hamburger Hill 1969