I wrote this poem after reading a journal entry of Charles V. Ferree, during his time in the United States army in WWII. He worked to liberate the Jewish being held in concentration camps by the Germans. I found verbs, nouns, and adjectives to find the tone. After, I wrote this poem in memory of those who fought for freedom in Canada. The poem is based on troops entering the concentration camps only to find Jewish corpses piled up across the camp.

(An American soldier carrying a young girl out of a concentration camp)

http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/camp/pac/phil/lib-luz.html

I had been to war more than once,
But never from the wishes of the president.
We landed our planes on makeshift airstrips,
All to save the Jews.
Fighting is all around us,
Buchenwald, Munich, and then Dachau,
Bodies piled five feet high.
Prisoners beating their tormentors,
Their tormentors trying to fight back.
Machine guns roared all around us,
Making my ears ring like never before.
I try not to remember that time anymore,
People don’t believe me anyways.
I burned my uniform to rid the stench,
But my memories are always here.