Memorial Day Poem by Eugene Levich

It is Memorial Day
More than a half century
Since he died
On his 21st birthday,
An only child,
I mourn for him yet.

Herman Kokoschka,
With the funny name.
From Philadelphia,
Infantryman,
2nd Marine Regiment,
Fleet Marine Force,
Lance Corporal
And good Gyrene;
My comrade and
Comrade-in-arms

Of all those who had to die,
Why He?
From a stray round
Not even from an enemy
But from
Fire so-called “Friendly”
At what we called “Swamp Lagoon, ”
i.e., Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina.

He was short,
Dark-haired,
His neck muscled
From carrying a pack,
And a BAR
A mischievous
But kindly twinkle
In his eye
And witty enough to
Make you laugh
Until you cried
Was it for this reason
That he Died?

Was it the jealousy
Of Heaven
That took him away?
Was he too bright, too nice,
Too decent, and too
Funny to be allowed to
Go on his way
And live out his life?

And what can his parents
Have felt and thought,
Their only child
Hit in the back of the head
By a 3.5 Inch Rocket
On his 21st Birthday?
But at least he didn’t suffer any.

I’d like to absolve and to forgive
But I can’t! I hope
That brain-dead officer
Who sent Herman's company
Marching across a Firing Range
Was court-martialed
Because...
What an unusually fine
And deserving human being
He lost to this World!

When of think of him,
Of Herman,
My tears fall, and
It is hard for me to say,
Semper Fi!

But then I remember—
That Herman was
Always Loyal...
To his country,
To the Marine Corps,
And to his friends,
To the End!

Semper Fi!
Herman, my friend;
Gung Ho!
A salute;
And a fond Goodbye!