PLEASE REMEMBER ME

I fired the first shot at Concord
A shot heard all around the Earth.
We gave up our lives so that
Freedom and Justice was given its birth.
Remember me, America, for I was once your son
I fought and died at Valley Forge with General Washington.
I was there at Gettysburg on that tragic, tragic day
When brother fought against brother - the blue against the gray.
I rode with Teddy Roosevelt on the charge up San Juan Hill
Some came back to fight again - but I just lie there still.
I went to France with A.E.F. to bring the peace to you
I was twenty-one and full of fun -I never saw twenty-two.
I'm still here at Pearl Harbor since that December seventh day of infamy.
Lying silently with my shipmates on the Oklahoma, the Utah, and the Arizona at the bottom of the sea
D-Day, June 6th, 1944, we hit the beaches of Normandy
And we fought uphill every inch of the way.
We routed the Germans and hurled them back
But what a terrible price we had to pay.
I served on an U.S. Submarine, the bravest of the brave
Until a German depth charge gave us a watery grave.
I bombed the Ploesti oil fields, they blew with one big roar
But in the attack we were hit with flack - I'll never bomb anymore.
I helped to raise the flag on Iwo Jima
And it just lifted our spirits oh so high.
But the cost of this island took its toll
It was the lives of 4000 Marines and I.
In Korea I heard the CO. shout
"We'll make it - I'm sure we will"
I lost my life to try and take a spot called Pork Chop Hill.
Vietnam! Vietnam' When will we ever learn?
I'm one of the sixty thousand who never will return.
I left my town, my wife, my kids, and my home so cozy and warm
I was killed in a scud attack in a war called "Desert Storm".
And so in my eternity my thoughts are all for thee
I'll never forget my America - I pray she remembers me

John J. DiRusso
485th Bomb Group
15th Air Force

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