The Wall

My name, not his, on that Wall.
Not for me to see, but for all.

In my place in harm’s way he was sent. 

Someone else’s son to live in a tent. 

A calendar was formed to choose who would go, 

Some spared, some to fight the foe.
While I ate three and found comfortable sleep

He lay in mud and foxholes deep.
The turn of events kept me from the fire. 
I slept in beds while he slept near pyre.
My name to trade on that wall.
Not for him to trace, but for all.
 
A brother, a husband, a father, a mother’s son.
Humble, caring, gifted, filled with love and compassion.
Thankful and cursed, who died in my place?
His name is somewhere on that wall properly spaced. 
This soldier’s name now makes history
Written on the wall for all to see. 
He, not I, was chosen to go.

Oh, how his mother loved him so.
 
He paid the ultimate price in my place that day,
But I pay too with every memorial May.

Remembering the sacrifice he made for me on that battlefield,
How can I ever repay him, his fate forever sealed. 
My name, not his, should be on that wall.
Not a tear for me, but for all.
 
Granite slabs with names we have left to remember
And a numbered calendar from January to December.
I know not the name of the soldier who took my place.

His name is on the wall. His name with no face.

We both answered our country’s call. 
Their names in silence are a memory of all
Who died in sacrifice so that others may live
And ponder the guilt to someday forgive.

Capital ground and sacred mall  

I wish I could replace my name with his on the wall.
 
William R O'Donnell 
Navy Anti Sub Warfare Tech, Petty Officer  Second Class

1969-1973