I've seen some very good songs mentioned in this thread, Joe. Thanks for starting it. My favorites are Goodman's My Old Man & Mike Smith's I Brought My Father With Me. Here's another powerful one you may have heard.
"Semper Fi" - by John Gorka


My father met Eleanor Roosevelt in 1945
The war at last was over then and they were still alive
Her husband was the president 'til he ran out of time
Her Franklin D was history, they'd put him on the dime

My father joined the leathernecks to stay out of the mines
The new marine was just fifteen in 1939
There were medals and malaria, the South Pacific war
Through jungles that were paradise and were paradise no more

chorus
Soldiers fight and soldiers die, soldiers live to wonder why
Semper Fi Fee Fo Fum, look out peacetime, here we come

Some of the men who did survive were not the lucky ones
War is only good for those who make and sell the guns
My father lay recovering, the hurt was all inside
Sometimes the wounds that never heal are easiest to hide

When Eleanor came bearing gifts to San Francisco Bay
She gave my dad a blanket in the hospital that day
That blanket meant a lot to him, my mother has it still
Some forget the kindnesses that others never will

chorus