Have you thanked him today?
He stood on the line between them and you.
He will not talk about it much,
This Old Vet of WWII.

I got him alone on a cloudy night,
Two glasses of wine, he started to talk,
This Old Vet of WWII.

He said he answered the call at 2 a.m.
“Where are we going I asked the sergeant?”
“Son, we’re going to hell on Iwo Jima.”
“Many things happened in the days and nights ahead.
That’s why you have all that nice you have,
because we stood on the line between them and you,” said
This Old Vet of WWII.

“The battle was won, we thought it was over,
but the ghosts come back in the middle of the night.”
“Have you thanked a Vet for the life you have?” said
This Old Vet of WWII.

I poured more wine and he began again.
“He came at me, his knife in hand-
as i cleaned my knife and put it away,
I could see that he was only a boy of maybe sixteen,” said
This Old Vet of WWII.

How old were you I asked this Old Vet of WWII?
“Just turned nineteen-two boys fighting a war
that someone else started,” said
This Old Vet of WWII.

These old Vet’s have been in many places and
The numbers are getting fewer.
The candidates say you’ve got it bad, pay
No attention to them.
On this Fourth of July, find this Old Vet of WWII and thank him and Good for all the nice things we have.

He stood on the line between them and you.