Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they’re red, white, and blue. Yeah!
The year
is 1969 and over half of the young men who graduated with me from high school
last year are serving in Vietnam. Everyone
talks patriotism; everyone waves the flag, but the war in Vietnam is raging and
not everyone gets drafted by the Selective Service.
The
fortunate ones get deferred or find a way to get deferred. Unable to afford college and unwilling to
marry and start a family at such a young age, those who do not qualify for a
Selective Service System deferment are classified 1-A and get drafted. The
Selective Service lives up to its name; it selects men mostly from the middle
and the lower middle class.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s
son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no
fortunate one, no.
The
following year, 1970, my brother is home from his “tour of duty.” It sounds like spending a year of his life in
Vietnam was a vacation; war is anything but. Many of his platoon are dead so everyone
calls him the fortunate one. We all know better. The brother who left us will
never be the same person who returned.
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord.
The daily
news runs the names of the fallen heroes, many boys I knew from school, the
neighborhood, or church. Too many are my
cousins. All killed in action.
What do
you think they thought about right before they died?
Nothing?
A cuss
word?
The Lord’s
Prayer maybe or a plea for mercy and forgiveness?
Regret that
they won’t be able to keep the promise they made their mamas or their
girlfriends about coming home safe?
Hopefully,
they knew how much they were loved and will be missed.
And when you ask them, “How much should we
give?”
Ooh, they only answer, More! More! More! Yo!
Memorial
Day honors all those who were killed in action while serving their country in
the United States Armed Forces. Remember
them. Many of them were young men, barely in their twenties.
Don’t
forget the fallen heroes. Make them the
true Fortunate Sons.
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