A Vietnam War Hero Poem by Francis Duggan

If you judge him do not judge him harshly or why judge him at all
Since the darkest of memories are his to recall
Many of his comrades around him under gunfire did fall
Their names to be seen on War Memorial wall.

Back in the late sixties in distant Vietnam
He fought in an unpopular war as a young man
He received an honourable discharge from the army and a medal for bravery
And he now is an ageing man in poverty.

He never fathered children or never had a wife
And alcohol has become his sole comfort in life
Haunted by his dark war memories life for him an Earthly Hell
Had he not been in Vietnam at all in life he may have done well.

His war medal for bravery he has misplaced or lost
The two years he spent in Vietnam to him has come at a great cost
He looks far older than his sixty three years thin and stooped and gray
War leaves it's mark on it's survivors it does seem that way.