The Door Gunner's Prayer

By Bernard A. Gudeahn

This poem is dedicated to Michael A. Kight of Waterbury, CT who lost his life in Soc Trang VietNam May 19th, 1967 

Sitting harnessed in my seat
With my flight helmet on
We were going on a mission
Just south of Saigon
I prayed before each flight
I would say a silent prayer
I know I said a lot of them
for the time I was there
I would close my eyes and pray at night
Sometimes I even cried
I saw my friend just yesterday
Today I learned he died
There was an awful lot of friends
The Lord up there did call
If you have reason not to believe me
go down and read the Wall
There were times I thought my time had come
I prayed I would go to heaven
and maybe join some friends of mine
from that year of Sixty Seven
The soldiers who served in Vietnam
we know were hero's all unsung
most of the ones who lost their lives
were so very very young
The ones who sent us over there
to play the savior's role
Which one of them was keeping track
of the U.S. high death toll
It seems I go back to Nam
a lot of nights in my dreams
Why does a year last a lifetime
or so it just seems
To awaken at night
in a cold lonely sweat
matching soldiers names to faces
of those Vietnam Vets
The soldiers that we lost there
I hope went to heaven
Let the ones who came home say a prayer for them
in this year of Ninety Seven

January 1997

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