To all my friends who are serving or have served...Thank you.

[thatcrazycajun]

To sffilk (Navy) and wcg (Marines) and suecochran's ex-husband John (Air Force). To my paternal uncle, Ewell Leger (Army, Korean War), now deceased, and my older brother Damian Leger (Army, Egypt and Panama). To my Songbird's nephew Jason (Navy, Iraq War). And to all the rest among my friends who have had loved ones serve, thank you for your precious gift to the rest of us.

On this Veterans' Day, we remember not only those who have died in service, but those who have survived...not all of them whole. And may the incoming administration figure out a way to finally get all the millions of homeless vets (a scandal to the jaybirds!) off the street and into safe places to live, all the ones still fighting their own government's bureaucracy for medical treatment (another scandal) properly seen to, and all the exhausted ones serving several tours in succession home to their own loved ones for good at last.

And again, as every year at this time, I offer my own small tribute.

NAMES UPON THE WALL
Music and lyrics by Matt G. Leger

  E                 E                A            A
Touch-ing down in Wash-ing-ton, in town to do a show
         B7              B7           A                   E
Thought I'd go out and look a-round, see the sights, you know
    E                  E            C#m              C#m
A gent-le breeze was blow-ing as I walked a-long the Mall
    F#m7           F#m7             B7            E
And in   a qui-et grove of trees I came upon the Wall
(Melody repeats each verse)

Line of people filing past, heads bowed and faces grave
Row after row of names and ranks into the stone engraved
Some stop to touch a name or two or lay a flag below
A few so young their father's name is all of him they know

Chorus:
        B7               B7                 E                     E
And it does-n't mat-ter what their age or where they fought the fight
     B7              B7                 E               E7     
It does-n't mat-ter an-y-more who was wrong or who was right;
       A                B7                  E       B7      C#m  /  F#7
*They all had ones who still with love and gent-le pain re-call*
     E                A               B7             E
*The man-y mem'-ries bound up in the names up-on the Wall*
(Underlined/starred lyric lines change w/ each repeat of chorus)

Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, wives and lovers too
Friends "in country" and back home, and people that they knew
From ev'ry walk of life they come, each race and creed that's known
But they're all the same when they come here to touch the cold black stone

Two men recall a comrade and the battles lost and won
A woman turns around in shock and whispers, "That's my son!"
Rough soldier's arms embrace her, tears stain a patch-filled sleeve
And strangers become family as in common bond they grieve
Repeat Chorus / *...They entered hell and gave their lives when they heard their country call
And now they live forevermore as names upon the Wall.*

Bridge:
       C#m            Am           A            E
   So many dead and wound-ed, so man-y left be-hind

       C#m                    Am                  F#7                  F#7
   But for those who made it back, death al-most would have been more kind

    A                   B7                 E               C#m
   Hat-ed, shunned and spat up-on, called mur-der-ers and worse

   F#7       F#7              A                 B7
   Is it any won-der that by mad-ness some are cursed?

The line streams ever onward still, endless pairs of feet
Before the stark reminder of our first taste of defeat
They put their small mementoes down, and all they take away
Is scraps of paper rubbed with names in lines of charcoal gray

The Wall exerts its power ev'ry time we touch a name
We touch it and it touches us, and we're never quite the same
It stands for painful lessons learned, and peace made with the past
It stands for hope a nation can be whole again at last
Repeat Chorus / *...Black, red, yellow, white or brown, it matters not at all
Your mem'ry lives in honor if your name is on that Wall.*

Repeat Chorus / *...Down through all the years today, the sorrow touches all
     E                A               B7      B7      C#m  /  F#7
I sing my song for all of you whose names are on the Wall...*

(Repeat melody of last regular chorus line, notes double length)
And may there be... no future names... to carve on any... wall.

©1989 onward by Matt G. Leger. Any recording, performance or publication for profit requires payment of royalties per ASCAP/BMI standards, payable as a donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (www.thevirtualwall.org). All other uses freely permitted so long as this notice is retained unaltered.

Comments

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

My nephew, also named Jason, is in the Air Force. Although he didn't go to Iraq or Afghanistan, I remember him today for serving our country.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

♥

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

©1989 onward by Matt G. Leger. Any recording, performance or publication for profit requires payment of royalties per ASCAP/BMI standards, payable as a donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (www.thevirtualwall.org).

SALUTE! TWO!