The Flags On Grandpas' Hat Poem by Ken Lambert

“Grandpa that looks silly”
She said looking at my wall
A baseball cap was hanging there
With a dozen flags in all

Little pins of memories
Upon that field of blue
Flags of many nations
Every shape and hue

In the middle emblazoned
The words “Vietnam Vet”
She asked me what that was,
What those two words meant

I said they meant a lifetime
Spent in just four years
A lifetime full of learning
And yet, one full of tears


She asked me to explain to her
The meaning of each pin
To tell her of the history
Of each country I’d been in

The island of Guam was my first stop
On the way to getting old.
The place where I lost my best friend
A pain as yet untold

The Philippines was the leadoff
On the way to war
A place where I became a man
In ways I couldn’t ignore