The Forgotten Soldier

Before you read the following poem, I wanted to explain it's very unique backstory. I recently visited Washington D.C. in September, and while there we visited all of the war memorials. Each memorial was amazing, and sad, and unique in it's own way, but when we reached the Vietnam War Memorial, the tears could not be stopped from flowing. Our guide explained to us that the children that had been in grade school when the bombing of Pearl Harbor happened in 1941, were the same ones joining the Vietnam War, just fourteen years later, in 1955. The World War II Veterans came home heroes, but the Vietnam War was the scorned war, and the soldiers that did make it home, were spit upon, and hated. Many Vietnam Veterans were saved by airport security members from the mobs, told to change their uniform, and never tell anyone that they were in the war. Our guide also told us the true story of a Vietnam Veteran who would come every day to watch the wall, but he was never able to approach it. He would just stand in the trees next to it, and watch over it. Eventually, the man committed suicide next to the wall out of grief. When I heard this true story, I was horrified, and realized that the soldiers of the Vietnam War were  never honored, and because of that, they were never truly able to leave the war behind. The poem "The Forgotten Soldier" is in honor of the man who died as a casualty of the Vietnam War, even if it was on home soil, next to the wall. It is in honor, and a thank you to all of those who served to protect the innocent, and to those who laid down their lives in the ultimate sacrifice and never made it home. We salute you.  We thank you for your service to our county, and we honor you.

The Forgotten Soldier


The wind whistles through the barren trees, 

With each gust I'm trembling not from the cold, but what's haunting me. 

Nobody can fathom the pain I've seen, 

Or that unlike any other war, this is not a memory that has faded with time, 

But is a forever reality. 

I come here everyday to remember the slain,

I feel the choices I've made forever come into play. 

I stand at a distance concealed by the trees, 

Wishing and willing my heart and soul to be free. 

For years I've longed to run my hands over those names, 

To apologize for living straight to the wall's dark face.

But here I stand bound by the fear of public condemnation, 

For my uniform has born only scorn and humiliation, 

Spit on was I who gave my life to this nation. 

I'm weary of living; my soul tormented by the past. 

I'm worn down by regretting the way my life has passed, 

I just want to give up, and rest in peace at last. 

The cancer coursing through my body has left my legs frail, 

This "Agent Orange" is nothing compared to Vietnam; the soldiers hell. 

The breath in my body is the only thing separating me from the dead. 

I scream from the pain the memories I have running red. 

Like the wall this war leaves a scar in my heart you cannot see, but the wound is deep. 

I will never completely heal. 

I try to convince myself the things I've seen were not real. 

I have given up on God, 

I have given up on life, 

I see no future, 

Only the promise of my soul and mind forever in strife, 

So I will leave now, and by no one be missed, 

For I am just another one of those suicidal statistics

I didn't have the honor to die oversees, so my name will not be on the wall, 

Just a civilian deceased. 

I will give up and retire from the position of a mental warrior, 

For I am the forgotten soldier

                                         - Written By Riley Rose