I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,
And then stood there at ease..

I looked at him in uniform
so young, so tall, so proud,
with hair cut so square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in a crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes were shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
and felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
that taps meant "Amen,"

When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a Brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
with interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
at the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington,
No, Freedom isn't free.

Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops

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