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Images held hostage

The sand is returning to the hour glass,
To reunite with the images held hostage.

For 18 years I’ve kept my visions to myself,
Thinking of all the memories and hiding your pictures from my shelves.

But today I take the time to be alone and walk the mall,
And then I see all your names up on the wall.

I remember I used to live across the South China Sea,
My friends and neighbors didn’t think too much of me.

In those times men and women of all races Hispanic, white, and black,
We’re just sent to Southeast Asia pick up the government slack.

What kind of biased society let’s the influential continue in school and more,
When the rest of us were sent off to the Vietnam war.

Surviving in desperate need for a stranger’s hand,
Living in a foreign land.

The shadows of night please restore the distorted images of time,
There’s danger on the edge of the wire ride the freedom Bird West.

Faces lost in the jungle forests of pain,
Voices are crying out has all of humanity gone insane.

We received The Bronze stars and Purple Hearts
Then sent us home to make new starts.

Many came home and never found a friend,
And we swear to hold the images held hostage to the end.

US soldier in a boonie hat knelt down next to an exploded rocket.

Phubai rocket attack.

Biographical Details

Primary Location During Vietnam: Phubai, Vietnam Vietnam location marker

Story Subject: Military Service

Military Branch: U.S. Army

Dates of Service: 1970 - 1971

Veteran Organization: VFW

Unit: Engineers

Story Themes: 1970, 1971, Army, Art, Classism, Eden Prairie, Jim Osterberg, Memory, Phu Bai, Poetry, Racism, Read, The Vietnam Memorial, The Vietnam Wall, Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW

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