Author’s Note: In remembrance of those men and women of color who fought and died for their countries in WWII
ON THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY
(June 6, 1944 - June 6, 2004)
When our soldiers crossed
the Atlantic Ocean
and the English Channel
in World War One,
we said it was
to fight the Huns.
Supposedly, they also fought
to end all wars
or so we thought.
When they fought again
in World War Two,
we would still maintain
that's what we had to do
to make the world
safe for democracy;
to restore some
sense of normalcy.
Now some sixty years later,
they are fighting again
on some other foreign soil.
But what do we
really have to gain,
unless its full access
to someone else's oil?
How many wars will
still have to be fought?
How many weapons will
still have to be bought
to ensure that
the world will be free
to enjoy our brand of democracy?
Now lest I be
too quick to complain,
I've neither experienced the emotional
nor the psychological pain
of those who fought
not for some claim to fame,
but oft times to clear their names.
For the complete story
has yet to be told
about those brave and bold
colored/negro sailors and soldiers
during World War Two
who were often accused of treason.
Whose only crime was
to ask for what reason(s)
they were fighting
(many of them died)
for the rights and freedoms of others
while their own
were still being denied.
Even the mystery about the history
of those black men of the 364th infantry
has finally began to unfold
by someone who has also
been both, brave and bold.
Who, despite death threats
and many other fears,
has researched for many years
what he calls "the slaughter"
of the most nefarious order!
If Carroll Case's story
about what supposedly happened
in Nineteen Hundred and Forty-Two
really be true,
then justice and reparations
are long overdue.