I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze
A young marine saluted it, and then
He stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No freedom is not free.
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
and felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
with interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
at the bottom of the sea
of unmarked graves in Arlington
No, freedom is not free.
Cadet Major Kelly Strong
BLACKHAWK WAR
A Brief History - includes a list of Macon County Volunteers
MEXICAN WAR
Macon County in the Mexican War
CIVIL WAR - A Large Database
SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
Sec. of State Spanish American War Database - New Searchable Database Online
WORLD WAR I
WW I - Roll of Honor
WW I - Milton Downham's Letter Home
WW I - Mrs. J. Tille's Letter From Her Father in Germany
WORLD WAR II
WW II Website
KOREA and VIETNAM WAR
State Level Lists of Casualties for Korea and Vietnam Wars
VETERANS BURIED IN MACON CO. thru 1929A - F G - M N - S T - Z
VETERANS BURIED IN MACON CO. NOT INCLUDED IN THE 1929 ROLL OF HONORRESIDENTS ILLINOIS SOLIDIERS AND SAILORS HOME QUINCY
OTHER MILITARY LINKSMilitary USA || Military Search Engine
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