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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “Sprung from Grief” Down in the Dirt, v184 (the June 2021 Issue) Order the paperback book:

Order this writing that appears in the one-of-a-kind anthology Lockdown’s Over the Down in the Dirt May-August 2021 issues collection book		get the 420 page May-August 2021 Down in the Dirt 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

Heroes

Richard K. Williams

World War II, the U.S. Army
Stationed aboard ship, two tours
Missions in the South Pacific
A stay in Australia
He didn’t talk about the war much
I managed to draw out
A few expedient tales
How he hadn’t drawn pay
For four years
Missing the paymaster
Through late arrivals
Or early departures

Playing poker on deck
Pretending to gamble with millions
Of Dutch Guilders they captured
When the crew purloined four hundred cases
Of canned chicken
To discover at sea
Through fiendish mislabeling
They were really cans of chili con carne
He still became indignant
At the suppliers deception

He had an argument
With a Dutch captain
Who insisted on flying the Dutch flag
Above the American flag
On a U.S. commissioned ship
His refusal to do so
Cost him his stripes

After the war
He married a woman
Who bore him four sons
On the day of my High School graduation
That same woman told me
He wasn’t our father
Then a short time later she left us
He did not!

So today I am here
Standing within a circle of heroes
Each hero represented by an American flag
Each flag flies upon a lodge pole
Eyes raised, I gaze
At my father’s flag

It has flown the day
Proudly waving over the arbor
Of our annual ceremonial dance, Hethuska
It is evening, time to lower the flags
My son arrived in time to assist me
Instantly converting
A special moment
Into a spectacular moment

This flag, the stars and stripes
That my son and I are folding
One my father was so proud of
It cost him his stripes
But that’s not what made him a hero

Because when some would have walked away
From an untrustworthy woman
With four children, not his own
He stayed
He cared
He raised us
Now that’s a hero

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