Like countless other veterans, Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy returned from his service in WWII suffering from his battlefield experiences.  Like many then and since, he turned to poetry to cope with some of the memories plaguing him.   Today he would be quickly diagnosed with severe PTSD.  Then, however, he and those like him suffered privately.

In honor of Veterans Day, a poem Audie Murphy penned some time in the late 1940s when he was struggling to find his footing in Hollywood…

Alone and far removed from earthly care
The noble ruins of men lie buried here.
You were strong men, good men
Endowed with youth and much the will to live.
I hear no protest from the mute lips of the dead.
They rest: there is no more to give.

So long my comrades,
Sleep ye where you fell upon the field.
But tread softly please
March O’er my heart with ease.
March on and on,
But to God alone we kneel.