Rapaire: You are absolutely 100% correct. A good song does, indeed speak to the heart irrespective of whichever battleground the lyrics refer to.

I have a habit of singing "No Man's Land: The Green Fields of France" with the peculiar emphasis on vocals as done by 'The Dropkick Murphy's' - not as Bogle himself does it (Though I am truer to Bogle's lyrics than the 'Murphy's' are) and then relating it to the young men who have since served in more recent conflicts up to and including Iraq Mark II.

My daughter's partner is also a 'Vet; but of Somalia - he arrived in 'The Mog' (Mogadishu) about 3 - 4 weeks following the events depicted in "Blackhawk Down" and his regiment virtually stepped off their plane and into a shit-fight.

I have always said I had no desire to visit the US - simply because there was nothing there that really attracted me EXCEPT to visit: the American Museum of Natural History in New York (for the dinosaur hall); The Grand Canyon and Dinosaur National Park and maybe one or two dinosaur quarries in the Mid-West(though I'm more attracted by the dinosaur sites of Canada).
But in the past decade I have had an increasingly HUGE drive to visit 'The Wall' in Washington DC as well - if only in homage to my Aussie Viet Vet mates and their 'Yank' counterparts.
One of the most moving images I have ever seen and one which can still bring me to tears in an instant (I'm feeling teary as I write this now, thinking about it) is a bandanna, jeans and jacket-clad old Vet leaning against the wall with his right hand peering at names and instead of his reflection, there is the image of one of his dead mates clad in his 'Jungle Greens' standing inside the wall itself with his left hand upraised palm-to-palm with his reminiscing / grieving mate who has to go on carrying the load.

God Bless the Vets - ALL of 'em

Muttley