Dear Daddy:

I wasn't even born when you went off to that war,
I'm sure you were scared and afraid
For there's no way you could have known
                               Just what was in store.

Young teenage men and grown alike,
Sent to a country so far from home.
Afraid to stay awake.......
                               Afraid to sleep at night.

Some were single ...others  were not,
With families, children and wives
Everyday thinking of home
                               Oh, the desire to stay alive!

Every minute seemed to pass so slowly,
Hours, Days, Months and then years
Friends and brothers, everyday dying
                               With each.... more and more tears.

Finally it came, your time to go home
No more bullets blood or fear
To return to a country that hated you
After they had sent you there!
                               Did they have an idea, to you, what was shown?

That was 1969, a time you'll never forget
In 1970 you married my mom
First came Jason and then me
Two years later you'd kiss her good-bye
                               Never again to come back home.

Drinking was the only way to make the demons stop
Nightmares and sounds screaming your name
It didn't mean you didn't love us
                               But your life was never the same.

That February day now haunts me to the same
The anger and the pain, now it's me screaming your name
I was only two when you left us for good
                               How sad it was, you lost your war
                               Left with no daddy I've never understood.

I was so young and could only imagine
What you were like
Did you love me, hug me, kiss me or
                               Tuck me in at night?

One little girl, one little boy with another on the way
What we would have done
For one more time to love our Daddy
                               And to beg him to stay!

Twenty-six years now have past
Only stories told and pictures to see
Of the Daddy I had......
                               I must make your memory forever last!

If I could turn back time I'd take the pain away
I'd erase that war out of your mind
I'd love you so much.......
                               You'd leave all that behind.

But I know that can't happen.....
My life must go on
I will tell of Grandpa and how proud he would be
                               To hold those four grand-children up high
                               For the whole world to see!

I'll never stop missing or thinking of you
Keeping your memory alive so passionately
Because after all
                               You were my Daddy......

I'll always love you Daddy,

Tisha