LAST CALL WWII VETERANS

At year's end of 2005 estimates
say World War II Veterans
eighty years and more are
dying at the rate of 1,700 daily
wiping out all but a few
by the end of this decade
Invincibly young in '41
impetuous confident brave
spirit filled dedicated willing
volunteer and draftee gave
combat service with courage
sure of returning home again
but many thousands did not
We remember how it was
remember who fought
who flew the planes
who served on warships
who returned to love new families
who lived through war's hell
and who today are as old as God

©Copyright July 2006 by F. William Broome

Originally titled "Vanishing Veterans" - this is a rewrite of that poem