The Veteran

As a young girl, I was taught that the Veteran’s
Were those cogidy old men seen in parades;
Wearing the funny looking hat.
The men who handed out paper poppies in the fall
With frail, arthritic hands.
The grey haired man down the street, who so cautiously,
Meticulously put his flag out on certain holidays.
These men were Veterans. They served in the military
So many years ago, in some land that
I only knew from history books and pictures.

The men who filled the barber shop
And Eagles Lodge, or the VFW on
Friday nights after work.
My uncle, my father said, was a Veteran.
His hand and arms so covered
In black and purple spots,
That I later came to know as
Metal fragments from some
Bomb that exploded next to him
While he was on an island in the Philippines.

Then, my mother told me,
My brother, home from Vietnam was one of them,
A Veteran.
But how can that be,
He’s not old, he’s still in the Navy.
“He’s done time during a war”, my father said,
“He deserves our respect.”

His body now, shows signs of those things
He can never talk about. His mind too,
Hold secrets that I could never understand.
He hurts for a friend that he let
Slip away into the water that day,
Gone, dark and cold, into the sea.

Now, I look into those same eyes,
But this time, those eyes belong to
My son.
My little boy. The round faced,
Chubby little cherub that could always make me laugh.
His eyes now hold such sorrow,
His dreams contain such horrendous images.
In his sleep, he calls out to his brother
“hold on, just a few more clicks, we’ll get you there”
But alas, the road was too long,
The time too great!

Today’s Veteran,
Is still that gentle old man
We see at church every Sunday,
The grandpa holding his grandson’s tiny hand,
He is the father down the street who
Raises and lowers our flag everyday.
Today’s Veteran,
He is also MY SON

written by Andria M. Mocek in honor of
HM3 (AW) Jonathan E. Mocek, US Navy
LCpl Gabriel A. Mocek, US Marine Corps
Richard Skoff, US Navy, Vietnam
Peter Skoff, US ARMY, WWII
And to all those whose names are known only to God!