Heroes-In harms way

I once was asked a question, a simple one for most,
posed to the group by our more than gracious host.
"Who is your hero?" he had asked loud and clear.
Some gave a very good answer of their Mother or Dad,
but many of them gave ones that made me very sad.

My mind went racing forward to a long bygone year,
danger was present daily and death was always near.
My memory of it to this day is still so sharp and keen.
Young men doing what they felt they had to bravely do,
protecting the life and freedom of people much like you.

My plight was as a sniper and I was proud to be a Marine,
and I was attached one day to a squad that was so green.
I was to drop off in the jungle to hunt another sniper there.
They went along the appointed route, scared and all alone,
not accustomed to this war into which they were thrown.

We started by a rice paddy with the jungle lurking there,
it gave a shiver up my spine that stood up my every hair.
Then gunfire erupted from the greenery,quickly killing two.
Every Marine hit the deck not wanting to be the next dead,
more than a couple with their hands covered up their head.

The paddy was bobby trapped, it's something they use to do,
so that your fear would lead you there, letting them kill you.
I heard the first mortar coming and knew what it did mean.
The trail had been presighted to send death from up above,
all of these men would go home dead to those that they love.

What happened next is something that must be truly seen,
and is a living testament to what it means to be a Marine.
I stood and yelled at them to get up and charge the hill.
That  laying there not only mean that they would have died,
but also meant the death of their friend there at their side.

Every one of them, each as scared as they could ever be,
even the ones that fear had caused to shit and even pee,
stood and started  up that hill into that dark green wall.
Each Marine summons up what he had to save his buddy,
and we left five that day on that hillside wet and muddy.

Every Marine had seen the other as they died and did fall
and knew that it was for them, that they had given all.
Each one had been paralyzed with confusion and with fear.
All of them had overcome it to save the other's life,
so that they could go home to their mothers or their wife.

Being brave does not mean that you do not know fear,
it is the ability to overcome it for the others that are near.
None of them got a medal or recognition for that day.
They were just doing what was expected of them there,
but that day is one that made a brotherhood they share.

So pardon me if I look at you in a most peculiar way,
when Micheal Jordon is your hero, you do stand to say.
I do not know the names of my heroes from that day,
but each and every one of them finds peace, I truly pray,
for they lived and offered their life for another on that day.

SIDENOTE:

We went off to an unpopular war not with a public cheer
and returned to hippies that called us names and did jeer.
I can only hope that when a soldier takes up arms for you,
that you treat them with the respect that such a feat is due
and welcome them home again when their duty is through.