A Name On A Wall Poem by Bill Mitton

It was a forgotten war
and a wall of afterthoughts
It was Black with white scars
and every scar a name, a life
It was pain it was sorrow
and I was drawn to it's names
drawn to it's single stories
It took a stunned nation years to
acknowledge their sacrifice
and perhaps not until the
vast black stone wall stood
did a people understand the
the enormity of that sacrifice
and the scale of their own
indifference and ignorance
fifty eight thousand scars
are marked on that black stone
fifty eight thousand lives
given to the cold ground
and as I scanned the names
of men and boys who in minds
and hearts will never change
this stone touched my life
in one more surprising way
as one white scar bore
for me a poignant reminder
of the smile of fortune
it was the name I have
and will carry all my life
William Mitton,
But this name was followed by
CWO US Army
1949-1970 Killed in Action.
Wednesday, May 6,1970.
The Day he was killed in Cambodia
is the day I left Thailand,
The British army, and harms way.
I looked at that black wall knowing
Here are fifty eight thousand
prayers imploring, that we find another way.