Forgotten
by
Danny Ingram
President, American
Veterans For Equal Rights
In the corner of the nursing home, next to the artificial palm, sits an old man strapped in a wheelchair, slumped over, as dusty and forgotten as the plastic plant. He sleeps. Drool slips unnoticed from his ancient lips. Dreams pass through his silent mind. Clutching, clinging, grasping hands of sand as bullets pop all around, ringing off his steel helmet. Men yelling, falling, everywhere, cries of pain. Mother. Blasts, explosions, showers of sand sting his face. Screams of shells rip overhead. Red blood in white surf. He prays, pulling forward, looking for a shelter on the open beach. Gripping, crawling. Deafening. Dying. D-Day. First landing. Omaha Beach. First on the beachhead. Unending, longest, eternal day. Finally, darkness breached. At last. And soon to fall. Hero. Champion. Liberty. Light. Here now sits freedom's mighty ward. Silent, soiled, neglected.
