D-Day

D-Day

(In honor of Alvin Rustebakke, 28th Division, Second Ranger Battalion, WWII)

sixty-five years have passed
since the frightful day
when he struggled across the beach
dreaming of home in those Montana hills
saw the world as it was, the horror and agony
the price
paid in lives of friends--these soldiers straggled along the sands
but he saw God that day.

And he’s had a hard time of it
in those years since the war
and I wonder if it might have been different for him
if the ugliness and pain hadn’t come so early
Who can offer insight
into what changed that day in his heart and mind
all the reality
and the faith to back it up

but now his children
live in that freedom
an electrician, a veterinarian, a farmer and mechanic
their children making lives of their own
engineers, architects, psychologists, housewives
mothers, fathers.
new soldiers, fighting in foreign wars
and none will know the hardship he did
So for him the war is won.