EDWARD JAY RYKOSKEY POST #1 CARLISLE VIETNAM VETERANS All Gave Some, Some Gave All you are NOT fogotten Welcome home, my brother

Bob Hinkle - The Warrior Poet  

 

Poetry by Bob Hinkle Click for a tribute to Bob Hinkle by Patsy and Rod Keckler

I Want To Kill The Man Who Killed Grandpa A father and mother with three small children Stood at the Viet-Nam Wall And the father, trying to hold back tears pointed and said "There, on line twenty three is the name of your Grandpa" He said Grandpa and nearly 59,000 other Heroes Died fighting for freedoms you enjoy today Then he lowered his head and in a voice you Could barely hear "It's a Hell of a price to pay‚" A little boy said "Dad, what was Grandpa like?" Dad replied "I really don't know‚ Like you, I was only five years old when he was killed And that was so long ago" The little boy still curious asked "How do I Become a Hero and get my name on a wall?" And, "What is it really like dad" and then he added "Someday, I want to kill the man who killed Grandpa" Before dad could answer, mom quietly said "It's getting late and we really should be on our way" But the little boy spoke up and in a sad voice "I don't want to go - this is where Grandpa lives and I want to stay" Then he glanced back at the Wall and said "mom and dad I can see Grandpa waving at me" And he's saying "It'okay Robbie, I'm doing fine in here I've got all my buddies with me you see" Then a smile appeared on Robbie's face And moved and said "see you Grandpa‚ I'll make sure mom and dad bring me back here soon again To visit you at the Wall" Mom and dad (speechless) stared again at the big black Wall But saw only their reflections once again And they wondered - was this Robbie's imagination Or had Grandpa really visited them Then they glanced about ten feet to their right When an old Veteran with a (bush) hat on and a cane Stood facing the Wall And they heard him say "hay! Homie" "I told you I'd be back to visit you this fall" He said "I brought you a pack of C-Rats You know what I'm talking about HELL HOMIE - the kind we use to eat in Nam When we were together up near the DMZ" Then for a few seconds the Veteran was silent As he lowered his head and looked away Then composed himself and said "FUCK IT, HOMIE If I'd known you were going to buy the farm I'd never have given you my peaches that day" Then he sat down a can of hams beer And said "here, wash those "Cs" down with this At least this ones a cold one Hommie Remember in Nam how they were always cold as Tiger piss" He said "MAN, you sure look good HELL, you haven't aged at all And one of these days Hommie, I'm gonna join you Inside this big black Wall" Then the Veteran saluted ard as he turned to leave He looked at Robbie, winked and smiled because he knew That the power of the Wall he and Robbie just experienced Was only offered to a chosen few Written by Bob Hinkle 2006

Purple Heart As I lay in a hospital in Viet-Nam With shrapnel burned in my skin I saw the door open at the end of the corridor And a full bird Colonel and entourage walk in He shouted "HOW YA-ALL DOIN' MEN I've got a gift from Uncle Sam" Then he held up a bunch of Purple Hearts And said " I've got one for each and every man" He stopped at every bed side And shook hands with the Soldiers that were able to And he pinned the Purple Heart on our hospital gowns And he said to everyone "GOD BLESS YOU" It stirred mixed feelings inside me Of both guilt and Patriotic Pride You see, I had proved myself in battle yesterday But in that same battle - 3 buddies died Their families would receive the same Purple Heart That the Colonel pinned on my chest today Yet, yesterday, I cussed GOD for letting me live And for taking my buddies away Why hadn't I died along with them I asked out-loud It just kept running through my mind Then a green angel said, "it was Gods will or maybe luck" But for some reason it just wasn't your time" As the Colonel was leaving he turned and yelled His voice echoing through-out the hospital floor "I'M PROUD OF YOU MEN - GET WELL SOON" "YOU KNOW, WE'RE WINNING THIS FUCKING WAR" When he had disappeared and things got quiet A soldier missing a leg and half an arm Touched his Purple Heart with his good hand and said "What good does this damn thing do me when I get Home on my daddy's farm?" I often wonder what that Colonel thinks today Does he see wounded and dead when he sleeps Does he feel the medal he handed out justifies the end Or does he live with guilt and pain, like me Written by Bob Hinkle 2003

He Stood Alone He was leaning against a light pole near the Old town square He looked old and tired and it had been a Long time since he had shaved He wore an Army field jacket with faded jeans And a hat that said Viet-Nam 67-68 Not one person said hello to the old veteran As they passed him by that day And he left the impression that he didn't much care Whether they spoke or just went on their way The Memorial Day ceremony was about to begin About 100 people had stopped to see They were honoring the veterans of our great land Who had fought to keep us free As the speaker spoke I glanced at the vet With the hat on standing all alone He seemed unimpressed by the words he heard And that (stare) kind of chilled you to the bone The speaker talked about the history of America And the battles our veterans won in the past He read from a paper and sounded mechanical I could tell the (VET) by the pole has wondering Just how much longer will it last When the speaker finished the crowed came alive They clapped at the history lesson they'd been to That is everyone clapped except the tired looking vet Standing all alone by the pole Finally, it was time to raise the American flag Followed by a bugler playing taps And the first time the vet by the pole paid attention As he stood up straight and covered his heart With that old faded hat I realized he wasn't as old as I thought he was As he stood there, with his hat off, standing tall But when the bugler stopped he put his hat back on And went back to leaning against the pole like it Was a wall Well, I finally got up enough nerve to walk Over and ask him Hey! What did you think of the ceremony today? He kind of gave me that annoyed look And then he responded this way He said men and women (veterans) gave their lives So Americans can be free But look around you-just look around How much of the "FUCKING" public do you see? And the General with all the medals, who spoke With a speech I'm sure someone else wrote I wonder if he ever held a dying buddy While blood gurgled up out of his throat I felt kind of ashamed and for awhile turned away Because I really didn't know what to say And when I did think of something and turned Back around He was already walking away As he disappeared I suddenly understood Why the Viet-Nam Vet has so much bitterness and scorn He had fought for his country, he dearly loved But got no love or thank you in return Bob Hinkle 1988

Heaven or Hell When I reached the gates of HEAVEN, there was A holding room filled with Veterans from all wars And at a table up front sat St. Peter's assistant With a note pad adding and subtracting our scores When I reached the front he showed me a chart Outlining all the good and bad things I've done And he proudly explained, "It was close but you made it" "You can enter the gates of HEAVEN my son" "Do you have any questions?" he asked with a smile As he layed that golden chart aside But he looked real surprised when I said "Yes, I do" "I'd like to know if my buddies from Nam are inside" Well, you could tell no one had ever asked any questions After being told they could enter GOD's house But he regained his composure and said "I need names" By now the room was quiet as a mouse There's Adkins and Brasswell and Harbaugh just to name a few I'd sure like to see them again Then he picked up a phone and when he laid it down He said "I'm sorry, but they're not in there my friend" I just sat there for several minutes Knowing I was holding up the line But I had to decide should I enter HEAVEN And just leave my buddies behind Man! We'd gone thru HELL (together) before they moved on We were closer than families could be And I promised them when they died that somewhere down the road I'd see them (again) when the demons set me free So I finally said to the guy at the table Who by now was annoyed and a little mad "Your chart's not complete, you've missed a few things" And I told him of other times I'd been bad Well, he had to add up all the figures again And then looked at me with sad eyes Then said "You just missed the cut off my friend To enter HEAVEN, you don't qualify" You could tell people in line felt sorry for me And a small, little nurse said "I'm sorry you can't get in" I replied, "It's okay, don't feel bad for me" You see, I'll be with my buddies again Bob Hinkle 2004

Voices Within The Wall I stared at the Wall so long and black All the names had faces and they all stared back None of them smiled, but they all seemed to say We waited a long time for you to pass this way I saw Adkins wave with just half a face and head, And I remember crying "you can't be dead!" And those two kids I wasted, it wasn't meant to be. Their expression from the Wall seemed to ask, "Why me?" I could see faces of villagers as we set their homes on fire And I can still hear my buddies scream "There's gooks in the wire!" The boy from Kentucky, just three days in Nam Who died in my arms while he cried for his mom. As I stood there, I smelled napalm as it burned human skin And I could hear those damn choppers cutting through the wind. I can still hear the Chaplin saying "GOD is on our side" And I remember cussing him and yelling "go tell those who died." I relived (again) my first Christmas Eve away from home When a dead soldier and I spent all night alone And I could still see the cigarette I had placed in his mouth And that small flag in his helmet from somewhere down south. I wondered out loud, who's luckier - them or me? At least the ones on the Wall souls are free. While the Wall brought back memories, no healing took place And I stood there and cried "Oh hell, what a waste!" Bob Hinkle VietNam Veteran

POW-MIA Roll Call Each morning we take roll call To see who joined us over night We sure are getting crowded up here In this room painted black & white There are airmen and corpsmen and just plain grunts From all of America's Wars Some seem happy yet others are bitter But for all, they will suffer no more We welcome all of the new-comers With hugs and plenty of smiles For their "HELL ON EARTH" is over They've walked their last 10 miles There's Bently from the Korean War Who was captured after his buddies fell Then spent the next 30 years in Russian prison It was nothing but a living HELL The tall guy is Capt. Lavan from World War II Shot down somewhere in Germany He's been missing in action for 60 years All that time his fate unknown by his family In the corner, those guys are from Viet-Nam There's Holmes, Rykoskey and Holtry And Jackson (there) spent 5 years in one cage All fill abandoned by their country The younger guy is Spicher from the Gulf war In 91 shot down over IRAQ Spent 12 years in prison before he died Wonders why America didn't want him back All these POW-MIAs loved their country But wonder why they've been forgotten And they question, could their courage & sacrifice All have been for Here in this black & white room safe & sound Just a holding place until judgment day We wait and we think of what might have been And when we finally meet GOD, what should we say You see most of us wonder out loud Why GOD and America let us suffer so long I mean, we love and would do anything for both So what has gone terribly wrong Some of us pray to GOD each day Others curse when they hear his name But we all love each other and most of us realize We were just "pawns" in a political game OH! I almost forgot, there's someone in here who's not MIA But it's a person we all love and trust He's the small gray haired man who takes Roll call each morning Who goes by the name of "CHUCK" Bob Hinkle 09/15/05

No Name Hill - Viet-Nam It was late February and hot as hell Somewhere near the Bong Son Plains We were ordered to take a lonely hill "HELL!" it didn't even have a name Just before day break we jumped off choppers In Elephant grass taller than me And one hour later we started to climb I swear I could see GOOKS behind every tree We had gone only a hundred yards when AK's opened up From the top of that NO NAME hill And in just a few seconds The enemy had their first confirmed kill Two men fell just to my right Blood forming puddles where they lay And I remember screaming "Medic Up" And I can still hear that gurgling sound to this day I heard more calls for medics and one boy Screamed for his mom I saw bravery, and courage, and loyalty That I haven't seen since returning from Nam A GOOK opened up from a spider hole, and a Soldier on my left greased his ass Although scared as hell we all knew the only way to survive Was to reach the GOD DAMN top "fast" It was late afternoon when we reached the peak We had lost 26 - either wounded or dead And the enemy that we hadn't killed Had picked up their weapons and fled My body felt broken and my mind felt empty There was no celebration - even the wind was still And I thought "WHAT THE HELL WAS SO IMPORTANT" To lose men on this FUCKING HILL We secured the area and the LT said "clear a pad" For all the Division Brass Half hour later two choppers landed and out stepped A General, two Colonels followed by the media With their nose up his ass The General bragged how the body count had reached 85 As he faced the camera with a smile on his face But the men who had fought and earned there way to the top Just sat staring out into space When the cameras stopped they got back in the birds Without giving us the time of day And I knew then there were people I hated worse than the gooks And that feeling is still with me today Before darkness fell we started back down From this lonely NO NAME HILL And by midnight "Charlie" would (again) sit at the top Eating his fish and rice meal And I'm thinking don't anyone give a damn About our pain and sacrifice That's when this grunt started using the phase "IT DON'T MEAN NOTHIN" And I gave up on Jesus Christ Bob Hinkle 2005

When Will It End After more than 30 years I can still see A dead soldier in a fox hole on Christmas Eve After more than 30 years I can still see Kids caught in my ambush near Beln Mei And I wonder WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still see My friend (Adkins) head exploding red & gray After more than 30 years I still hear Screams of the wounded where they lay And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still hear That distinctive "whump whump" sound After more than 30 years I still feel That help-less feeling as we were going down And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still hear Mortars exploding near by After more than 30 years I still see The face of Mai-Lin who was killed before she turned five And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I can still smell The rain and that FUCKING napalm After more than 30 years I still see the Village chief and his family hanging on stakes-killed by the Cong And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still hear Someone yell "there's gooks in the wire" After more than 30 years I still see that kid Near Bong-Sin get crushed beneath a large GOER tire And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still hear the co-pilot Scream "we're going down" After more than 30 years I still cry When I think of our POW-MIAs that were never found And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still hear a wailing sound From a Vietnamese mother whose son was killed by the enemy After more than 30 years I still hear the Army Chaplin Who told me "GOD meant it to be" And I say to that GOD 30 years later WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still hear a Colonel say "LRRPS hide, the General will be here soon" After more than 30 years I still hear me reply "It's okay to do his killing but not okay to be in the same room" And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? After more than 30 years I still see and hear Protesters at the airport in Seattle, that day After more than 30 years I still hear and see The insults and spit they threw my way And I wonder - WHEN WILL IT END? By Bob Hinkle 2004

Where Do You Belong God called St. Peter into his golden throne Looked at him over his thick glass frames Said, "I want you to build a beautiful wall Call it - The Heroes Wall of Fame Cover it with names of veterans who died Fighting to keep America free When you're done let me know, cuz' we're gonna hang it Up here in heaven for all to see" Then God said, "I want another wall constructed To send to the devil - for his hell-bound train It should be much larger than the heroes' wall When you're done call it - The Wall of Shame The wall of shame should have names of people Who treated the US military disrespectful over time Just the Vietnam War alone," he added "Will keep you plenty busy, I think you'll find" So St. Peter turned this task over to his top lieutenants The next day, research in heaven's library began And the over seer in charge to build both walls Was assigned to his best friend - Billy Graham Two months later he was given a long list of heroes Whose names will be etched into the Heroes Wall of Fame Adkins, Shughert, Brasswell and yes, even Patton Along with Rykoskey, Dutch Gallagher, Cartwright and Cain Washington, Lincoln and Paul Revere stood out Along with Ira Hayes, Audi Murphy and Francis Scott Key Chuck Barnes, Gary Ream and Red Monismith from Pennsylvania And a famous general from the south - Robert E. Lee These names would be etched in solid gold The wall will be lit up all along Jesus' super highway These heroes will be honored day and night Not just on Memorial Day Above each name was a picture Of the heroes listed on the wall Each face had a smile of pride St. Peter declared it - Heaven's roll call One month later another lieutenant presented St. Peter With a list of names for The Wall of Shame It was twice as large as the heroes' list And St. Peter wondered, would it be too long for the Devil's hell bound train He scanned over the list and was not surprised To find Jane Fonda listed as number one He recalled seeing a picture of her in North Vietnam Smiling - sitting on a enemy anti-aircraft gun After much thought St. Peter decided We can't glorify people who rubbed military noses in the mud They do not deserve to have their names in gold Therefore, we will etch their names in blood And while they are riding that hell bound train Other passengers can read their names in red And perhaps that will double their suffering and agony For them desecrating the dead St. Peter complimented his lieutenants for a job well done Then authorized all veterans in heaven to wear a red, white and blue halo with their name He figured they already spent their time in hell And now they are honored on The Heroes Wall of Fame While many of us still on earth get really upset At those who treat our troops with disdain The one satisfaction we can look forward to is knowing Some day they will ride the hell bound train   GOD BLESS ALL VETERANS Bob Hinkle May 2010

Helicopter Ride - In Nam We call for extraction and hope like hell they're not too late to get us out of this nightmare we're in. We sever the LZ and tell our half-dead buddies to hang on and we lie and assure them everything will be fine. As we wait, we are receiving sniper fire and one round snaps off a twig a foot above my head. Then we hear that whoop-whoop sound of the rotor blades fighting the wind and we knew they are in-bound and we pop "red" smoke and all of a sudden a "gook" sniper close by cuts loose and our fear is he might shoot down our only hope of getting out of this green hell. But the courageous pilot brings the chopper down and we run like hell for our only chance to freedom, carrying our wounded buddies like rag dolls. As bullets are slamming against the chopper and grass at our feet, we somehow get aboard as the barrel of the machine gun spitting bullets into the jungle at Charlie is glowing red-and we yell "get out of here LIFTOFF - LIFTOFF‚" The ship rattles and shakes and steam flies everywhere as we slowly lift off. Are we all aboard? I scan the ship and yell "YEAH!"- we're finally out of that green Hell. I can see Booker, our medic, working on Cartwright who has two bullet holes in his stomach and blood seems to be two inches thick on the floor of the ship. In fact, blood is everywhere as the wind blowing through the ship sprays it over everyone. The crew chief has a look on his face as if he seen ghosts come out of that green hell onto his ship and when I glance his way he quickly turns his head away. Brasswell is directly across from me and has some kind of neck wound, but doesn't look as bad as Cartwright. I can still here pinging sounds as enemy snipers bullets hit the ship, but finally all is quiet except the cold rush of air going through the ship and once-in-a-while I hear Cartwright moaning. Then Cartwright shakes violently and Booker cusses loudly as he watches Cartwright cough up blood, shake violently (again) and die. I stare out the side of the ship at the green mass (green hell) below and the only people I give a "FUCK" about right now are my team members and other grunts fighting this GOD-DAMN war the people back home (in the world) are not worth dying for-just guys like Adkins and Cartwright are worth dying for. I see Brasswell (a black guy) reach out and take Cartwright's (white) hand in his and tears are running down his face and I recall a recent letter I got from my mother saying whites and blacks are fighting each other back in the "WORLD" and I almost say out-loud HELL! They think and call us animals and say we're insane over here. They could learn from us if they could see Brasswell holding a hand of a "white" buddy who is now dead and for the rest of the helicopter ride back to our forward firebase I kept thinking "FUCK-EM" all of them back in the world at that moment I hated the protesters and draft creeps more then the gooks I was fighting. The change in the pitch of the blades and rush of air told me we were nearing the "OASIS" as I look at everyone on board we all seem to have that "FUCK IT - IT DON'T MEAN NOTHING" look on our faces because over here you had to have that attitude to survive to keep from going insane like the world thinks we already are. As the chopper shakes and rattles to a soft landing, medics are there to take our wounded away, but for Cartwright, it's too late. People on the ground just stare at us as we un-ass the chopper and for the second time today they have that - I just saw a ghost look. My jungle boots slide on the blood on the floor of the chopper as I hop out and I try to look away as Cartwright is being laid on the tarmac. I turn and notice bullet holes in the chopper and the crew chief is already starting to clean up the blood and he looks up and with a shocked look on his face gives me a salute. I return it as he and the pilots riskin' their life to save ours. For a minute I think how lucky I am to be alive, but then I realize I must take another helicopter ride tomorrow or the next day back to that "GREEN HELL" and I turn around and again look at Cartwright and think to myself - maybe he's the lucky one and I walk away mumbling to myself "FUCK IT- IT DON'T MEAN NOTHING‚" Written By Bob Hinkle True story from 1967 In Nam

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EDWARD JAY RYKOSKEY POST #1
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