Jeffrey L. Ashner, who served in the U.S. Navy as a corpsman/ medic in Vietnam, wrote this poem and it was in The Times News in 1969.

Ashner died three years ago, but his wife Mary Ann, shared the poem:

“Honor Him Please”

In the place they call Vietnam,

They say there is a spot,

Deep in the hearts of many men

It seems that God has forgot.

In the field amidst rain, muck, and heat

Pushing at paces as though to drop,

Remembering their loved ones, dare not stop.

Remember my friend, these boys who are men

Who are guarding quite an amount,

Their leaving home was not much then;

Now your prayers will surely count.

Up at five and down who knows when,

This is war my friend, my friend.

You say there’s a tomorrow,

But who knows what then?

Living life hour by hour, day by day,

Be this the price these men must pay.

Then it happens, a man gets hit,

For this man, this time is it.

This man is now free of rounds of shells,

This man is free of a living hell.

Remember my friend, though this man be just one,

Honor him please; he was an American son.

By Jeffrey L. Ashner, Hospital Corpsman, U.S. Naval Hospital, Philadelphia.

Written Nov. 23, 1969