Memorial Day and remembrance. My father was a supply sergeant in WWII. Because he was to old for combat and had two babies at home he was lucky enough to be stationed in America. I was fortunate in communicating my unsuitability to the US armed forces so well they asked me to please go away when my number came up during the Viet Nam war which I considered a despicable act against another country.
I've been a vocal critic when it comes to the land of my birth. Some people have on rare occasions asked if I hated my country. Nothing could be further from the truth. I do love my country but at the same time I weep for my fellow citizens when, like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz", I look behind the curtain. My heart is broken and I constantly search for the glue to mend it. My cousin Joseph helped supply a little glue that helped. Joseph at the height of 5' 3" was a veteran of WWII on the front lines as heavy gunner in the Soviet Army. Joseph somehow learned to find the smallest pleasures gratifying.
Joseph fought from 1939 until the war in Germany ended. He was taken prisoner two times and escaped. There are so many stories Joseph told me of his time during the war and of life before and after the war, eventually emigrating to The USofA about 35 years ago. He even told me of the events leading to my Grandfather's desertion from the Army of the Tsar long before the Russian Revolution. He told me the sacrifices he made for his country and how he never ask anything of his country except for a telephone line when the City of Kiev was building a new telephone exchange with 25,000 new phone lines. There were no phone books then and he knew no one that had a telephone. He just wanted one, put in an application but never got that phone line to his apartment. Joseph said "I gave everything for my country and all I wanted was a phone line. I didn't get it. I have done nothing for America but America has given me everything. America said "Come Joseph. Here, take this. Don't worry there is enough, have more".
I leave my little Ode with the words of American Topical song writer Phil Ochs with his Ode to America called "The Power And the Glory". I hope you all take it into your hearts and speak out and sometimes take actions yourselves because NOW is the time for all men to come to the aid of his country.
Come and take a walk with me thru this green and growing land
Walk thru the meadows and the mountains and the sand
Walk thru the valleys and the rivers and the plains
Walk thru the sun and walk thru the rain
Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)
From Colorado, Kansas, and the Carolinas too
Virginia and Alaska, from the old to the new
Texas and Ohio and the California shore
Tell me, who could ask for more?
Yet she's only as rich as the poorest of her poor
Only as free as the padlocked prison door
Only as strong as our love for this land
Only as tall as we stand
Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)