I stood with the 300 against the invading horde. At the pass of Thermopylae I died by the sword! On my shield I left with all my mortal might. Now into the fields of Elysium, a hero's afterlife! I stood on these killing fields a free man. Dying for the vow, the defense of my land! Beside brave Leonidas I would give my life. For my land, my freedom, my birthright! I stood at the Byzantine walls in 1453. At the walls of Constantinople I engaged the enemy! With flames of Greek fire I would attack. So few yet so brave we stood back to back! I STOOD I stood in the fields of Kursk, 1943. The bloody days in June engaging the red enemy! A graveyard of steel, lives withered away. So many heroes buried in those graves... I stood against their tanks in 1956. In the streets of Budapest, the molotovs were fixed! Alone with no help, we made the stand. Against the juggernauts to rid it from the land! I stood in the jungles of Nam in 1968. Amidst the horrors of war and the homegrown hate. Survived the tours of madness for so Goddam long. Only to return home and be spit upon. I STOOD I stand here and now in 2016. And I know the struggles those before me have seen! Win or lose...yet I will give my all. For I know my place, I know my ancestors call