The Last Vietnam Veteran

Died Today

(The Year 2045)

A Poem

By

Robert A. Chapin

Copyright 1984

Smashwords Edition

The last Vietnam veteran died today

At one hundred and four years they say

A mindless shell of his former self

In a nursing home both tucked away

He enlisted in the 1966

Eager to defend his nation’s pride

He was lean and mean - a fighting machine

Now we prepare for his final ride

Back when he was young and well-groomed

Forfeiting college for a military hat

He proudly returned from an unpopular war

Only to endure when demonstrators spat

Congress echoes: “America is not at war”

And they sprayed to “kill mosquitoes” by day

But now wasted and withered with 32 pills

Agent Orange was the chemical spray

He fought gallantly at Khe Sahn