ONTOS
Ontos is Greek for "Thing",
That's what you are, a little thing
Hard to describe, quick as a cat
darting in and out of the dust and smoke
Three men ride in the little thing
Allis-Chalmers powers two little tracks
Grunts pinned by crew served weapons
hidden in the rubble and dust and smoke
Heavy fighting, unable to advance
appearing from the smoke like a wraith
An olive drab, stinging wraith
out of the smoke, square up
Fire, six rifle shells on the way
shells hit the building, Ontos spins
Ontos spins on one track and scats
back into the dust and smoke
Track is hit by lucky round,
Ontos cannot move
From the rubble come stingers:
six B-40 Rockets, Still Ontos fires
Six more B-40 Rockets come winging
Ontos fires one last time
Fires one last time and is consumed,
consumed by a tremendous flash
A tremendous Flash and Explosion
little Ontos is gone with his crew.
From the Smoke of Ontos emerges
another, and the battle is resumed
Ontos, The Thing, like its crew:
tough, dependable and a fighter
Ontos was where it belonged
Semper Fi: "Always Faithful."
For the Marines who manned the
Ontos of Viet Nam.
© J. J. McCloud
Webmaster: Thurman P. Woodfork
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