The Mountain Laurel
The Journal of Mountain Life

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from the
Heart of the Blue Ridge


Winning The War

By Tilitha Waicekauskas © 1991

Issue: July, 1991

Editor's Note: For-the month of July, in honor of our country's independence, we present this poem of what patriotism is all about.

When I was just a little girl
Our country was at war,
But even little children knew
What we were fighting for.

We pledged allegiance to the flag
- Sang patriotic songs -
And we all knew America
Would right the whole world's wrongs.

And every day we all would pray
For God to bless our men.
Americans walked very tall,
And had the will to win.

We knew that all Americans
Must help each way we could,
So all joined in to fight the foe
- We knew our cause was good.

One sister helped build airplanes;
One sent her man to fight;
The other had two sailor friends
She wrote to every night.

The boys and I were still too young
But tried to do our parts,
For we, too, loved our Uncle Sam
With all our childish hearts.

Our pennies went for war stamps
- Enough would buy a bond.
And when we heard they needed tin,
We waved our magic wand

And peeled the wrappers off our gum
And made a ball of foil,
And when they needed milkweed pods
We gladly gave our toil.

Daddy raised tomatoes
To keep the country fed.
When Uncle Sam ran out of iron
Mom sacrificed the bed.

Its iron head was very tall
- She sawed it off with glee,
And made it look like Hollywood,
More up-to-date, you see.

The other day a friend of mine
Was looking at my bed -
The one with missing headboard,
And footboard at the head.

She said my bed was really not
What she was searching for,
But you see, my bed is not for sale
- It helped to win the war.