Born on the fourth of July

Since this July 4th I thought this would be an appropriate song.
True story about Vietnam war veteran Ron Kovic, written by Tom Paxton and performed by Reuben Wilkinson.
"Born On The Fourth Of July"

As a schoolboy I played with a plastic grenade
It was gray and with caps it was loaded
In the dirt we would cry and dramatically die
As it flew to the air and exploded
As a young man my dream was to be a marine
My flag was worth all I could bring it
The country was young, when the anthem was sung
Well it gave me the goosebumps to sing it

I was born on the fourth of July
No one more loyal than I
When my country said so I was ready to go
And I wish I'd been left there to die

When I landed in 'Nam, I was Great Uncle Sam
I was fighting for God and my mother
And I knew what to do when my first tour was through
I signed up and went back for another
But it all tumbled down when we ambushed the town
In the night how the metal was flying
We blew it to hell, really did our job well
But just women and kids did the dying

I was born on the fourth of July
No one more loyal than I
When my country said so I was ready to go
And I wish I'd been left there to die

In the damn DMZ, it all ended for me
The fighting broke out and we scattered
One shot hit my heel, the last thing I feel
The next hit my spine and it shattered
In my hospital bed I could hear what was said
And the word will stay with me forever
With my whole life ahead, my body was dead
And the word they were using was never

I was born on the fourth of July
No one more loyal than I
When my country said so I was ready to go
And I wish I'd been left there to die

Now I wheel myself down to the crossroads of town
To watch the young girls and their lovers
And my mind is afire, it's alive with desire
Christ, I'd barely begun, now it's over
In my wheelchair for life, my mechanical wife
I'm supposed to be cheerful and stoic
I'm your old tried-and-true, Yankee Doodle to you
Clean-cut, paralysed and heroic

I was born on the fourth of July
No one more loyal than I
When my country said so I was ready to go
And I wish I'd been left there to die
FYI LTC Wayne Brandon LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj Robert Thornton CPT Scott Sharon SSG William Jones SSG Donald H "Don" Bates PO3 William Hetrick PO3 Lynn Spalding SPC Mark Huddleston SGT Rick Colburn CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke SP5 Jeannie Carle Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey Sgt Albert Castro