submitted by Jr. Past Commandant Mike haas

Do you remember when our lives were altered,

That bright sunny day is September?

Do you remember when the world we live in faltered,

How life in our world was dismembered?

Do you remember when planes hit the Towers?

A realization we too were vulnerable.

Do you remember when the Pentagon was deflowered?

Altering the perception of strength to rubble.

Do you remember when life in America stood still?

And a field in Pennsylvania ignited.

Do you remember when lives of 2977 became the bitter pill?

With ten-thousand more to follow unrequited.

Do you remember September 11, 2001?

I do.

Two centuries and five decades have passed,

Since men lined up for enlistment.

Tun Tavern was abuzz as sunlight cast,

What appeared is a force beyond description.

Where fourteen-hundred were needed,

A force of three-hundred was raised.

We became the smallest force fielded,

Setting the stage for a future yet blazed.

Tenacity and ferocity built the image,

While order and discipline guided the spirit.

Building character through early assemblage,

Then training and doctrine without limit.

Marines were issued leather gorgets,

It was meant to keep our heads erect.

Leatherneck became a name hard to forget,

We then engaged Barbary Pirates with no regret.

Defending Washington DC in Eighteen Twelve,

We displayed our marksmanship in battle for New Orleans.

Storming Chapultepec Castle earned our blood stripe honoring the felled,

Ceremoniously celebrated in our Hymn with esteem.

Battles were fought with grit and honor,

Oorah! was adopted as our battle cry.

Semper Fidelis became our lifelong motto,

Decried as “Tuefel Hunden” as we charged the German fray.

On Peleliu, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima,

Japan felt the Marine Corps fury.

The raising of Old Glory on Mount Suribachi,

Drove a stake into Japan's seigneury.

On the Korean Peninsula we rubbed their nose in,

Having six divisions and five air wings in store.

Both Inchon and the frozen Chosin,

Witnessed the ingenuity and resolve of the Corps.

Viet Nam posed a different viewpoint,

With Da Nang, Hue, and Khe Sanh under fire.

The Marine Corps pressed our own counterpoint,

With fury and decisiveness at the point of our spire.

Then came Beirut in Nineteen Eighty Three,

Two Hundred Forty One dead from a cowardly act.

A suicide bomber to our sovereign U. S. Embassy,

Reducing it to ashes in an unresolved slap.

In liberating Kuwait on February Twenty Eight,

Significant contributions of the Marines were felt.

“Six Days in Fallujah” highlights that checkmate,

The fortress of Operation Phantom Fury was dealt.

We were deployed after 911,

For humanitarian needs at the pile.

Traveled to Afghanistan and Iraq to quell aggression,

As a global terror network continued to revile.

Even today we’re deployed to our borders,

Engineers, Expeditionary and Ground force along the side of Border Patrol.

Protecting our way of life and liberty through Executive orders,

We are here today doing our duty and giving the world our soul.

Happy 250 th Birthday Brother and Sister Marines, FMF Sailors, Chaplains and

Corpsmen!

Our history is emblazoned,

With the raising of Old Glory.

High above the Battlefield raging,

Unfurled for history and story.

The most iconic moment in time,

Overshadowing the loses below.

Perseverance and follow through did shine,

As the dust settled with righteous glow.

Our Country embraced the efforts,

As our Corps created an icon.

For eighty years this symbol networks,

Our resilience, perseverance and ability to be relied on.

Its’ taken fifty years for the nation,

To recognize what was done.

With the pain and loss of a generation,

“Why” still haunts us from the publics  end-run.

Sent into battle at eighteen heralded by honor,

Only to return with their heads hung low.

No one cared of the sacrifice or wrongful dishonor,

With protests and slander accompanying  the flow.

Fifty years ago it ended but the pain never ceased,

With friends and loved ones permanently scarred.

The flag draped coffins disembarked without press release,

Quietly released back to their beginnings forever marred.

Today we salute you though long overdue,

For the terror and loss of friends and youth.

For fifty years Viet Nam Veterans were eschew,

Until now when they are honored for their couth.

All these Veterans deserve our thanks,

They followed the call of America with pride.

They have suffered for years lacking protection of their flanks,

Now is the time to honor their sacrifices previously denied.

They said “It’s only a flag,” as they gathered around,

The Red, White, and Blue as it burned on the ground.

It's not just a flag, it represents more,

Our history, traditions, and all Soldiers before.

It's the flag that we bare on our shoulders to war,

As we fight for our country, our freedom, and more.

It's the flag that flies high with us into the flight,

As we give our lives. To protect your rights.

It's the flag that we use to cover our dead,

When we bring them back home to the states once again.

It's the flag lifted from my friend’s coffin with pride,

The flag we gave his wife as she cried.

It's the flag that we proudly salute as we stand,

As we think if the Soldiers who died for these lands.

It's a symbol of hope and freedoms we have,

So don’t you dare tell me “ It’s only a flag.”

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