A Minnesota PBS Initiative
For My Scouts
I have built a house within my heart
where all of my deceased Highland Scouts live.
The house is a permanent home, built on stilts,
though the windows are draped in black
and the tenants are never coming back.
Grief is mine... and I am selfish...
I hoard their memories with relish.
Inside are stored essences of each
...of good times and bad
of all the things that have been.
I can lift the curtains when I am lonely
and they all laugh and live again...
Many of my Scouts have lived there a
long time... with a Black Panther
painted upon their doors.
Inside I can hear their laughter
and my tears fall upon the floor...
I'm on the upper left- sitting with Montagnard children and friends on the steps of a Montagnard Rung House or Happy House.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: West Fargo, ND
Primary Location During Vietnam: Kon Tum, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Military Service
Military Branch: U.S. Army
Dates of Service: 1966 - 1968
Unit: MACV Advisory Team 24
Specialty: Infantry
Me in late 1967 or early 1968 before Tet.
This story is part of the Spotlight on Poetry collection.
Story Themes: 1966, 1967, 1968, Army, Art, Brotherhood, Charles Schwiderski, Death and Loss, Grief, Kon Tum, Kontum, MACV Advisory Team 24, North Dakota, Poetry, West Fargo
Show Comments