June 14, 2018:  Flag Day.  Brainerd VFW Junior Vice Commander Mike Williams was given a quilt from the Brainerd chapter of Quilts of Valor.  Mike spent one year aboard the USS Hancock, CVA-19, an attack aircraft carrier in the Tonkin Gulf on the South China Sea at Vietnam 1972-73.

Mail Call poem from Mike: 
I got the call to go and fight, when I was just a lad;
A distant war was brewing, a thought that made me sad.
For I knew that I would have to go, and leave family and friends behind;
But Uncle Sam was calling; my choice was clear in mind.
So I left the shores of American, and sailed to a land far away.
To fight an evil enemy, that is still there today.
The wheels of war turn loudly, 24 hours a day,
It leaves little time to ponder; I wonder how they are doing today?
Day by day, as time went by, my mind would often race,
Again I would wonder what they were doing, as my mind's eye clearly saw each face.
So it was no wonder that we waited for the "cargo net" to fall,
For collectively we all knew, that it was time for mail call.
A Warrior is always happy, when the letters come from home,
For it gives him a sense of reason, and he knows he is not alone.
If even for a little while, he can leave the war behind,
Please know that he will find solace, and a little piece of mind.
So keep those card and letters coming, to the warrior who is far away.
For it gives him the strength and courage, to return to you someday.

Michael Williams
Hospital Corpsman
U.S.S. Hancock CVA-19
Active Duty, 1969-1973

---

Brainerd VFW Post 1647, 309 South 6th Street, Brainerd, MN, USA