Katlaughing, that poem was a moving tribute to those who fought on Saipan. It is hard to imagine the kind of hell these 19-21 year old soldiers and sailors were thrown into in the Central Pacific island battles. The Japanese strategy was to kill as many of the invaders as possible and hope that the Americans would lose heart in a protracted island battle. They very badly misjudged the resolve of our very young men. The more I study this history the more I realize, whatever one's feelings about war, that we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those who fought in WWII. I don't think that debt can ever be properly repaid. My father was a SeaBee on Manus Island, near New Guinea. Fortunately, he didn't have to go through the hell your uncle Howard did. I want to recommend a book to you that I think you might find very valuable in understanding your the soldier's experiences. It's called "With The Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene B. Sledge. It is one of the most moving and sobering descriptions of what it was like to be an infantryman in the Pacific on record. It's available in paperback. Try Amazon.com's site. Sledge's humility and his humanity really come through. If you do read it, I'd be curious to know what you think of it. I can't recommend it enough! Thank you for sharing that prayer with us Mudcatters.

-chanteyranger