I placed my hand on the gravestone
Of a soldier down a white line;
Who had died in the heat of battle
In “Operation Watch on the Rhine.”

I saw where etched in the marble
His soul was committed to God;
A hero of men and all nations,
Now resting in peace under sod.

A flood of tears came o’er me
As I saw him rush in the snow;
From a foxhole close to Bastogne,
With a wind chill near fifteen below.

There he was with no thought of peril
Covering ground in ice and the mire;
With grenades he took out some gunmen,
And machine guns with heavy fire.

But then a tiger tank bellowed,
That blasted the snow through the wind;
And as the snow dust had settled,
All knew it was this man’s end.

There I stood in awe of his valor,
There I wept while moved by his grit;
For I knew he never once cowered,
As he fought with honor through it.

Then I looked at all the white crosses
That had lined the fields and the hills;
Of the heroes lost in their battles
That gave up their wants and their wills.

So to all who’ve served our great nation,
Both enlisted and the veterans, too;
For the duty and way that you serve us,
I respect and salute all of you.