Wow thanks Michelle this whole week for the videos. I enjoyed the MEMRI film yesterday, and I want to thank our Military for our freedoms. Happy Thanksgiving and keep up the good work Hot Air.

Dittohead on November 23, 2006 at 11:13 AM

This was sent to me and I know it’s a Christmas poem but I am very thankful today and everyday for our Military.

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gram p s died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

ChrisIansNana on November 23, 2006 at 12:40 PM

Nicely done, Michelle.

More than ever we need to hear about heros like Daniel Unger. More than ever we need to see more films like the ones you are displaying this week.

“WE WILL NOT SUBMIT” is not simply a battle cry or motto, it is a way of life.

Michelle-Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and to my fellow and sister commentors here on HotAir.

The False Dervish on November 23, 2006 at 1:28 PM

A grateful citizen thanks Daniel and his family. May God Bless him and our Great Country.

Zorro on November 23, 2006 at 5:45 PM

James Bonham, Rodger Young, Rick Rescorla, and many more, some of whom were personally known to me, went before Daniel Unger and there are sure to be those who come after him. They are why H. Sapiens will endure.

I was five years old when I was taken to a funeral at Fort Sam Houston. It was for a father I never knew. He bought the farm a month before I was born. I was duly polite and respectful and thankful for the attention shown me—that flag and the medals—- but had no real feeling for things until that bugler started.

Day is done,
Gone the Sun,
From the Hills,
From the Sky.
All is well.

Soldier Rest,
Safely Rest.
God is nigh.

Then it hit me. I knew why he had gone where he had gone and done what he had done. I also knew that I had to be prepared to follow in his footsteps. I had better luck than he. My Purple Heart was not posthumous.

And in addition to my own comrades-in-arms

Oilpatcher on November 23, 2006 at 7:30 PM

I’m thankful for my Hunky Hub not having to sleep in the dirt of Iraq again this year. But I am more thankful that he is home in one piece. Thank you, Michelle for letting us remember what THANKFUL really means.

Rather than burden this bandwidth, I have posted the REST of my blessing list HERE. WELCOME.

seejanemom on November 23, 2006 at 7:56 PM

It always amazes me how each and every generation of americans produce such strong men and women. I really dont know where we get such fine young people. But I an eternally thankful that we do.

chow on November 23, 2006 at 11:17 PM

Lovely story. Thank you for sharing it. I didn’t start crying till the end, the girlfriend’s voice cracking.

WriterMom on November 24, 2006 at 10:30 AM