In Memory Of The Big Lt Poem by Thomas Thompson

Friday, April 18,2014

In Memory of the Big LT

I first met the Big LT
With laughing eyes and easy smile
On a dark rainy night

When I ducked inside a smoky tent
To see who owned the golden voice
That made me stop and tap my feet

We became friends he and I
And when he played his guitar to sign his song
He said Friend come sing harmony tho' he knew I could not carry a tune

Then one humid night his eyes were sad
And at the end of his somber song
Turned and said

Friend I'm on patrol tomorrow
And I've a bad feeling
Can I borrow your.45 as mine's not working

Days later word arrived the Big LT and most of his patrol
Were killed early morn as they returned from three days out
While crossing a river not far from his guitar

That morning I lost a friend
Though I never knew his name
Big LT was all he ever went by

I've often wondered who will carry his memory
When those of us returned from a Domino war
Even if not whole

Are naught but a footnote in some dusty tome never read
As a man and a nation who did not understand the Gulf of Tonkin
Became hell bent in quest of war against Weapon's of Mass Destruction

Tommy