Go forth brother and clear the way,
As you did for me when we both were young.
On your final journey you leave this day,
As the prayers are said and the bells are rung.
Long ago at the front you led,
And made as we trekked, here and there a mark,
To guide us back to a leafy bed:
A chevron white, on a tree’s brown bark.
Blaze a trail to the great unknown,
And on each trunk carve an arrowhead;
So if by then it be overgrown,
I will see the scars, and your path I’ll tread.
{In memory of Danny Allen O’Brien Warrant Officer class 1 27/04/1947 – 29/05/2016 R.I.P.}
dnobrienpoetry 
What a lovely tribute, Dennis. Nice work.
Thanks for the comment Sandra. I see it is your Memorial Day today also. This is interesting as my brother’s life was saved by US medical staff in a field hospital in Vietnam during the Tet offensive in 1968.
Praise God they were there. Unfortunately over here the Vietnam vets still don’t get the tribute — or even the appreciation — they deserve from a lot of the public. I interviewed a couple Vietnam vets at great length for a book I’ve been working on, and they told me some very sad — even heartbreaking things. Of course war always has so much of that anyway, but somehow it seems to help when veterans know what they went through was appreciated. When it isn’t and they’re looked down on, it’s doubly painful. And the whole problem with that war was that our government leaders who were sitting over here in their nice quiet, clean, safe homes, keeping an eye on their big bank accounts, wouldn’t ever let our armies do the job right and finish the enemy off. But it’s the soldiers themselves who seem to get the flack for it. Oh, well, I’m venting again, so I’ll put a period on this for tonight.