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Bound by Honor.

I DON'T SEE ANYTHING TO THE FRONT OF ME
CAN'T HEAR MUCH COMING FROM BEHIND
I'M SURROUNDED BY NOISE, SMOKE AND DARKNESS.
NOT SURE OF HOW FAR I'VE RAN
HOW FAR I'VE GONE OR WHERE I'VE BEEN.
THE RUCK ON MY BACK, A 90 POUND STONE
IN MY SHOULDER, MY M-16 COMES ALIVE.

I LEFT BEHIND MY FAMILY, ALL ALONE AT HOME
BOUND BY HONOR, I ANSWERED THE CALL
ON MY LEFT BREAST, THE EMBLEM OF MY CALLING.
FOR GOD, CORPS AND COUNTRY, I OFFER MY ALL

THERE ARE MARINES ALL AROUND ME
THEIR FACES ARE DIRTY, EYES BURNING SO BRIGHT
THE COURAGE THEY SHOW IS WHAT STEELS MY HEART
AS I STAND AMONG THEM IN THE LINE OF FIRE.

I SEE THE FAMILIES OF THE FALLEN
CRADLING PICTURES OF THE HEROES LOST
HUDDLED TOGETHER WITHIN GARDENS OF STONE
THEIR HEROES SMILE DOWN UPON THEM
FROM A SKY FILLED WITH LIGHT
HEAVEN IS NOW THEIR NEW HOME

I FEEL THEIR ARMS WRAP AROUND ME
FEEL THEIR BLOOD AS IT MIXES WITH MINE
SILENTLY THEY STAND IN A FORMATION
WAITING FOR ME TO TAKE MY PLACE
AT THE RIGHT OF THEIR LINE.

-SSgt Tony Michael Storey
United States Marine Corps

Tony M. Storey
Bellefontaine, OH

George McGill's story

My Dad wrote this about his return from WWII:
"We landed in New York at midnight on December 29, 1945. There weren’t any bands there, or cheering, nobody except a little group of Salvation Army girls, who had coffee and a few donuts. It was colder than hell and I was tickled to death that no one was there. I just wanted to get out of the cold.

From there they shipped us to Pennsylvania. They wanted us to lay over and not be processed, so the boys that worked there could go out and get drunk on New Years Eve. And I was one of them that said “To Hell with you, I’m going home.” We’d been gone three years, and they wanted us to hang around so they could get drunk! I was hot! Then this guy started giving me a hard time because I wasn’t up-to-date on my shots. I’d been in Turkey, no Army doctors around! So I told them that I’d survived that long without those shots and it wasn’t their problem any more. I told them, “All I want is that piece of paper that says DISCHARGED!”

So, they finally did get us our discharge papers that day, and I got on the train to Cincinnati. From there, I took the bus to Middletown. I got to the bus station about noon on January 1, 1946. I walked around the corner and called a taxi to go home. I was standing there on the corner, waiting for the taxi, when I looked across the street and a neighbor girl, Inez Childers, was just getting ready to cross the street. She worked downtown and was going to lunch. We met in the middle of the intersection of Main and Central. I guess there was traffic going around us, but I didn’t know it!

I can’t explain it, but I was completely overwhelmed. Everything seemed to come together and I knew right then that she was the nicest, sweetest person in the world. We were married March 1, 1946. Fifty-five years later, I still believe that."

Elizabeth Benn
Glendale, OH

A survivor

It was last year around mother's day, I was diagnosed with anthrax poisoning and the Desert Storm parasite. Bleeding from, everything, even my tears and sweat had blood in them. The diagnosis was not good, informed that I was dying and would be lucky to be around the end of the year. I am a survivor though, don't believe in just giving up. I went and customized my pickup, at first for me. I wanted everyone to know I was a vet and proud of that. Shortly after getting the truck done, I noticed the response from what was done. Veterans and their families just fell in love with the truck. At which time I decided that my pickup would promote awareness for our veterans. It goes to a variety of shows, parades and events for the vets. I have had it signed by country and gospel artists in support of the vets. Also have added to the back of the truck memorials of those which did not come home. Recently added flag pole mounts to fly flags off of the truck. And have a flag special made to be signed by the vets. The truck, now showing the sacrifices we make, and at events collecting donations for wounded warrior. It has become so popular the truck has its own facebook page and email, working on its own website. On the upside, I beat anthrax and the parasite, maybe because of the truck and what I am doing with it. If you allow the truck shared, it is not my page but the trucks direct link www.facebook.com/kensfreedomtruck

Kenneth Thompson
SOUTHAVEN, MS

Coming home from WWI

My great uncle, Martin Andrepont, was in the Army during WWI. He often told me the story of coming home on a ship after his tour was done. They were approaching New York and everyone was looking for the Statue of Liberty. It was early morning and very foggy so most of the soldiers were on the opposite side of the ship and were disoriented in the fog. Uncle Martin was the first one to spot her in the harbor and had a great laugh as he called out to them,"Hey, she's over here!" I heard that story many times before his death and I never tired of listening to it. I still recall the look in his eyes as he told it, like he was reliving it each time.

Anonymous
Iota, LA

My first Homecoming!!

I am Kaitlyn and I am 24 and my boyfriend Steve is a US Marine. I am crazy in love with him. He is the most wonderful person in the whole world. We have been together for a year and 7 months now. He deployed to Afghanistan in Feburary of 2012 and came back in Sept of 2012. It was a long 7 and a half months but we made it through and never had a single thought in my head that we wouldn't make it through. As September rolled around I was certainly counting down the days to see him. I was so nervous when he got off that bus. I had my 2 best friends there with me and my whole family. We had signs and I made sure I looked good for him. I thought to myself, "God I feel like it is a first date or something. Why am I so nervous?" But as I saw him climb put of the bus I knew everything was going to be alright and we pretty much picked up where we left off when he deployed back in Feburary. This was the best of my life to this day.

Kaitlyn Kennedy
Orange, CA

Homeless and Unemployed

I was in the Army 10 years. Got out after Iraq. It has been a constant slide til this past year I hit rock bottom. Divorced, homeless and unemployed I tried to commit suicide for the fourth time. I found myself in a veteran's home where I was finally cared for. Social workers who listened, doctors who cared, I'm not completely home yet, and after my experiences in Iraq, I never will be, but at least I am finally learning to manage with the pain and baggage. Every day I weep, every day I hurt and ache, every day I long for someone to see the potential in me,a classically trained chef who can't even get a job in fast food. Like I said, I'll never be who I was, but I can learn to live with who I have become.

Steven Phillips
Killeen, TX

A Lonely Monument in Keeline, Wy

My friend in Wyoming asked me to share this story again
A Lonely Monument in Keeline, Wyoming
By Penny Cochran
As I sit on a friend’s front porch, I can look out to my left and I see a lonely monument that has been maintained and decorated by my friend for the past thirteen years.
My friend’...See More

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penny
jennings, OK

Poisoned Veterans Desperately Need Your Help

My name is Michelle. I was a NICU RN for over 15 years and grateful to have been.

Prior to that I was in the Army and received Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. While there I received lethal doses of several toxins but despite being sick from the beginning of my Army career, I earned an Honorable Discharge and am fully eligible for VA benefits.

Still, I am denied VA health care based, I think, on my gender. Most men exposed to Agent Orange, and their offspring, are generously compensated, including COLLEGE TUITION, yet McClellan vets get nothing. I don't think it's a coincidence, given McClellan was known for its FEMALE Basic Training Brigade. This huge atrocity has been swept under the rug since 1935! That's not a typo. They've gotten away with it for that long, and only outcry from people like you can stop it. It's not like we can afford lobbyists.

A judge even ORDERED the Army/VA to provide care/compensation to McClellan vets, but they just ignored the order, even after Monsanto (makers of Agent Orange) paid almost a billion dollars to civilians in nearby Anniston who used the same water we did, and were FAR LESS POISONED than we were! The Army's Chemical Warfare Headquarters was at Ft. McToxic too! Guess who the lab rats were.

What '60 Minutes' called the "McClellan Cocktail" includes Sarin (nerve) gas, Mustard gas, Agent Orange, Dioxin, PCBs, Oxidized Uranium and secret chemical warfare agents. We breathed it steam ironing 5 times/ day, showered, drank, had it sprayed ON us, etc.

If you find this behavior by the Army/VA despicable, please contact your Representative in Congress or the media ...or anyone! And for the record, many thousands of men were affected too! Please help us all!

Michelle Bastian
Green Bay, WI

My Marine Father

My father joined the Marines in the late 60's. He served in the Vietnam War. He enlisted @ Camp LeJune and that is where he was when he retired. I'm very proud of my father and Love him dearly..

Cassandra Riales
Memphis, TN

Six souls that were lost

I was a B52 Tail gunner, with 113 mission over S.E.A. I am in touch with our crew's navigator and together we remembered this horror story from 1968!
When we heard the first radio transmission over "guard" we were still just north of the Phillipines. This epic went on until well after "bombs away" and we went back to being "feetwet" ourselves on our way back to Guam, safety, etc.
A helo was in trouble. He was trying to get a ground station, any ground station, to help him find out his location. He was over water, without any wet survival gear, and had six souls on board. His transponder was out, most of the rest of his instruments were out and it was getting later and darker. We would hear their communications in bits and pieces as they happened. Everyone with a radio on "Guard" in S.E.A. must have heard them, and listened, holding their collective breaths. He tried to swing the copter back and forth to slosh some fuel up from his nearly dry tanks. One of the last transmissions from the helo was something about the co-pilot holding the spot light straight down so they could estimate their altitude. I believe the last time I heard it they said they were around fifteen feet from the waves. The rest of the transmissions were from ground radio repeating the call sign of that doomed Helo over, and over, and over, and over-and NOT getting any answer....SIGH. The whole thing must have lasted well over an hour. I don't need to tell you that our usually quiet flight back to Guam was even quieter that night as all six of us thought and prayed for the six souls that were lost.

George Holmes
Austin, TX