Today, as I was pushing all the crap aside that resides in my desk drawer, I came upon two letters from 2003.They were from someone I didn’t know, but they again brought tears to my eyes. They also took me back to 1972, a different time and place - perhaps even a different person.

You see, these two letters were from a roommate’s mom, a roommate I had in Vietnam. He, and our other roommate, was KIA in ’72 (I never got any more roommates). Opening those yellowed letters again, I read a message from a wonderful, lonely, proud old Gold Star Mom -  my roommate David's mom.

She told me how she had gotten my addy from a posting I had done on the "Virtual Wall" and had started crying with happiness, as well as sadness. She told me a few other things that touched my heart. That letter had sat in my desk for a few days, I was that fearful of opening it.

With that fear in mind, a shaking hand, and tears in my eyes, it took me two weeks to answer it. I told her about her David in Vietnam, the dangers he faced each day with courage, his last morning (I was the last to see them alive) and, sadly, where he died. The Army had only told her that he was KIA in Vietnam, and when.

She told me of years of looking at the map, wondering where her baby lay dead, in that country. She was so happy to be able to look at the atlas, at last knowing where...it ended. She was so happy knowing David had friends and he isn’t forgotten, that he truly isn’t gone, nor his life wasted.

(Shrug) Sorry for not writing a poem about this, but I had to write something this morning. God Bless all the Gold Star Moms, who gave more than enough.