A New Memorial for the Fourth of July

In the United States we have just celebrated our Independence Day, on the 4th of July. It is typical at this time to honor the men and women who make up our armed forces, as well as to remember those who helped to make us a Nation.

There are many people who have strong feelings about the war our country is currently involved in. I am one of them myself. This poem, however, is about a war that did need to be fought. I wrote this poem and painted the picture on Memorial Day in 2004, when at long last they dedicated the Memorial to those who served in World War II.

It has always seemed to me that there is someone else who ought to be honored. I’ve never seen a Memorial like this - maybe when I’m rich I’ll build one. My Mom and Daddy were only  twenty four when Daddy was deployed to Panama. My sister was six months old and just beginning to crawl. My Grandmother kept my sister so that my mother could take the train from Utah to Texas with my Daddy and they spent two days together before he sailed for Panama.

The painting was done from an old, very cracked photograph, it was intact enough to show me what the pier looked like at Galveston the day my Daddy sailed.

Galveston Bay


When they knew he'd have to go away
My mother joined my father at Galveston Bay
For a few short days of sea and shore
Before he left her there and went to war

Not much more than a boy, he picked up a gun
And joined in doing what had to be done
That he would come home, he had no guarantee
But my father knew that freedom, never has been free

Today they raise a shrine to the men who served
The enduring recognition they always have deserved
Beside it I suggest another shrine should be created
To honor the courage of those who - waited

To remember those who lived with the fear of the unknown
The bravery of those who raised the children alone
Women who ran a country with hearts broken or yearning
Who built the planes and still kept the home fires burning

Who learned to get by on just the will to survive
Who sacrificed to keep the dream of freedom alive
Who mourned, and worked and waited, because it was her part
Who gave her country her not her blood, but her heart

And so I stand to honor on each Patrotic Day
The courageous woman who stood waiting
At Galveston Bay


© Edwina Peterson Cross - May 31, 2004
For My Mother - Zetta Benson Peterson