TWO VETERANS: Bradford veteran Donald Neal — a poet — sent two poems in honor of Veterans Day that we will share with readers today and Saturday.

“Two Veterans”

I met a man the other day, This man I will never forget.

I saw that on the cap he was wearing, that he was a Vietnam vet.

I thanked him for his service, and we talked for over an hour.

He noticed I had also served, in that Korean War.

We talked about our experiences, though there was a lot he could not tell.

He did say he was going to Heaven when he dies, he had seen the depths of Hell.

I said it was in the Air Force, is where I served with pride.

In the Military Air Transport Service, saving a lot of soldiers who would have died.

We flew supplies into Korea, and then flew the wounded soldiers out.

Without those flights to American hospitals, a lot of soldiers would have died, there’s no doubt.

He said that being so young and going to war, was not what he had planned.

He said he had never figured out, why we were fighting in foreign land.

He said he would have given his life, if he knew what we were fighting for.

And he said I now see on TV, soldiers are fighting in another foreign war.

He said, I guess I will never know the answer, I said I believed he was right.

We will never know the answers, to why men, in wars, have to fight.

As time went by and we had to part, I didn’t want the time to end.

But I knew that because we had something in common,

I had just found a wonderful friend.