Sisters of Honor - by Jack C. Perritt

What drew them together on this sacred, hallowed ground?
Was it the war fought in Asia with its heartbreak so profound?
Perhaps it was the cries of young men with wounds that ran so deep,
Or the countless hours of giving with no rest and little sleep.

Maybe it was the reminder of icy rains that often fell
Or the thunder in emerald mountains of artillery, and of shell.
Was it the flicker of dancing flare lights on summer’s darkened sky?
Or the silver tips of eagle’s wings as jets went screaming by?

What drew them together – a voice trembling in pain?
Or the hollow eyes of some soldier in death’s final strain?
I know they must remember the choppers coming in,
The chaos of shouted orders and the race they tried to win.

What brings them together through terror and lingering strife?
Why, to heal the shattered bodies, to save one soldier’s life.
When they came home no bugle sounded sweetly,
no voices raised to cheer –
There was only an emptiness, memories, and tears.

Three bronze sisters now stand upon the mall,
In honor of America’s daughters and the names upon the Wall.
What drew them together upon this sacred, hallowed ground?
It was a war fought in Asia, with its heartbreak so profound.

Jack C. Perritt, a Vietnam veteran living in Grand Prairie, Texas, is a Dallas police officer. Assigned to the 2nd Battallion 4th Marines Echo Comany and later assigned to a MarineCAP Unit – 3rd CAG, he served as a USMC Sargeant in Vietnam, 1968-1969 and was wounded in December 1968, Thu Thien Province. Sisters of Honor was written to honor “the faithfulness and undying dedication of America’s daughters who sacrificed and gave so much of themselves in the heatbreak of Vietnam. May God’s angels watch over them.”