For Whom the Bell Tolls

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There is an age-old adage that says that writers should write about what they know best. This goes twice over for poets. Especially when that writing rises out of the crucible of war and armed conflict. Wilfred Owens' "Dulce et Decorum Est" epitomizes the senseless sacrifice of an entire generation in the First World War; Rudyard Kipling's "The Young British Soldier" highlights the lonely but disciplined years of those who guarded the remote outposts of the British Empire; and Randall Jarell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" punches you in the gut with an atavistic image of the assembly-line creation and destruction that fed the maws of World War II.

But there is one poem that always makes me tear up, whether I see it in the credits at the end of a film ("Hamburger Hill") or in a photo compilation commemorating those who perished at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Michael Davis O'Donnell, a Vietnam War helicopter pilot, wrote a poem that neither glorifies nor reviles war. Instead it is a gentle and sad reminder to cherish the memories of those who perish in the act -- a personal pledge to remain free of bitterness over the loss of friends in an unpopular war.

But, like Wilfred Owens, Michael O'Donnell never made it home. Major O'Donnell was shot down while piloting a helicopter on a search and rescue mission in Cambodia on March 24, 1970. Listed as missing in action (MIA), his name is listed on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial at Panel 12W, Line 40 and was marked with a small cross to denote his MIA status. His remains were recovered and interned at Arlington National Cemetery on 16 August 2001. The small cross next to his name was changed to a diamond on that date.

His lasting legacy is this poem.

"Remember Them"

If you are able
save for them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say
you loved them
though you may
or may not have always.

Take what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.

And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one gentle moment to embrace
those gentle heros
you left behind.

-- Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam

Like the war in Vietnam during the sixties and seventies, America's current war in Iraq generates strong partisan feelings. But regardless of your personal feelings about the rationale or conduct of this war, never disparage the individuals who, willingly or unwillingly, fall in the line of duty.

 

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