I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze,
A young Airman saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in his uniform,
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him,
Had fallen through the years,
How many on foreign soil,
How many mother's tears.

How many planes shot down,
How many died at sea,
How many foxholes were soldiers graves,
No, Freedom is not free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugle play,
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered how many times,
That taps had meant "Amen",
When a flag had covered a coffin,
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of the fathers, sons, & husbands,
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard,
At the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves at Arlington,
No, Freedom is not free.

Author Unknown