The USS Indianapolis Memorial in Indionapolis, IN
Dedicated August 2, 1995

REAL WAR COSTS

Real war is something to abhor.
This 'thing' is nothing to adore!
Politicians too often to war have rushed,
As the countless lives of others were crushed.
Long after hostilities have ceased,
From their battles many veterans are never released!
After Sousa marches have dies away,
Thousand yard stares and memories of war still dismay.
Veterans' lives are frequently disposed,
But are never really neatly closed.
In the body and in the very soul,
They may never really be whole!
Those unknowing think they can simply be replaced,
But friends and families know the true waste!
Family, dreams, hopes - they must forget
But to war they are always in debt!
Real war costs
Are the lives and ways of so many lost!
Sometimes staying alive is the easy part;
Worse still is to 'exist' without your heart!

©Copyright 2003 by Mark H. Wilson

Author’s Note: For F2 Frank Wilson and S1 Thomas Wilson, USN, lost on July 20, 1945 and over the next 5 days from the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) in the Pacific. Captain Charles McVay III, and Coxswain Cozell Lee Smith, Jr. and only 315 others of 1,196 'existed' afterwards.