Written for the August 7, 1994 Korean War Veterans’ Welcome Home party hosted by Washtenaw County Chapter 310, Vietnam Veterans of America.

Korea, The Forgotten Men by Paul Stewart Dimsch

The Forgotten War they call it

In the face of you good men
We’ll pretend it never happened
and never speak of it again.
 
We’ll forget the fifty-four thousand killed
The hundred thousand wounded or maimed
We’ll cut it out of our history books
and never speak of it again.
 
But there are nearly eight thousand missing
And the families remember their names
And nearly a million that served there
That came home…and were never the same
To pretend it never happened
and never speak of it again.
 
Finally, some 40 years later
We stand and salute you men
We’ll raise a flag
And drink a toast
To wars forgotten, and then
We’ll welcome you home and shake your hands
It’s ok for hugs and tears
Then we’ll hang our heads in humble shame
‘cause it took some 40 years
It’s time that we said “Thank you”
For what you did back then
To say  Welcome Home and God Bless You
Then to speak again and again
Of the honorable men who fought that war
Never to be forgotten again.
Welcome Home!