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A B-29 Over Japan |
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In World War Number Two,
Half a world away,
Some of us who went, returned,
While others had to stay.
I just read today of a pilot
Of the mighty B-29,
In whose diary he wrote
Of the adventures of flying.
Sad thing is, he never returned
To the place of his birth,
But instead of returning,
Was interred in Japanese earth.
His was not of the land
Of the Rising Sun.
His true colors were of
The nation that won.
Yet he never lived to come home,
For a Japanese plane
Rammed his ship broadside,
Sending it down in flame.
His crash was witnessed by POW's
Who buried his body in Japanese sod.
But Lt. Bob Copeland of Lewiston Idaho,
Went not to his home, but to God!
God knows the spot where America forgot,
And the family he would have had,
Never came into being and the kids
He didn't have, never called him dad!
Lt. Copeland paid the supreme sacrifice,
He gave up all that he had,
But the sad, sad, part is that he never heard
His own child call him "Dad"! |
By
C. Douglas Caffey
Copyright 2001
Listed March 3, 2009
Note... The story of the death of Lt
Copeland is told
at
Lt Copeland's War Diary. |
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Author's Bio:
C. Douglas Caffey is a disabled veteran of WWII. He
served (1944-1946) in the 509th Composite Bomb Group,
58th Wing, Air Photo Unit, 20th Air Force, United States
Army Air Force. It was the 509th who dropped the atomic
bombs on Japan and did the atom bomb tests at Bikini in
the Pacific. A chronic sufferer of PTSD since WWII, Doug
is a former college dean. He started writing poetry
several years ago and though he doesn't claim to be a
poet, he does claim to write from the heart. |
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