Here's kind of another take on that poem: I like both of them:

"Hear my voice, America! Though I speak through the mist of 200 years, my
shout for freedom will echo through liberty's halls for many centuries to
come. Hear me speak, for my words are of truth and justice, and the rights
of man. For those ideals I have spilled my blood upon the worlds troubled
waters. Listen well, for my time is eternal -- yours is but a moment. I am
the spirit of heroes past and future.
I am the American Sailor. I was born upon the icy shores at Plymouth, rocked
upon the waves of the Atlantic, and nursed in the wilderness of Virginia. I
cut my teeth on New England codfish, and I was clothed in southern cotton. I
built muscle at the halyards of New Bedford whalers, and I gained my sea
legs high atop the mizzenmasts of Yankee clipper ships.

Yes, I am the American Sailor, one of the greatest seamen the world has ever
known. The sea is my home and my words are tempered by the sound of paddle
wheels on the Mississippi and the song of whales off Greenland's barren
shore. My eyes have grown dim from the glare of sunshine on blue water, and
my heart is full of star-strewn nights under the Southern Cross. My hands
are raw from winter storms while sailing down round the Horn, and they are
blistered from the heat of cannon broadside while defending our nation.

I am the American Sailor, and I have seen the sunset of a thousand distant,
lonely lands. I am the American Sailor. It was I who stood tall beside John
Paul Jones as he shouted, "I have not yet begun to fight!" I fought upon the
Lake Erie with Perry, and I rode with Stephen Decatur into Tripoli Harbor to
burn Philadelphia. I met Guerriere aboard Constitution, and I was lashed to
the mast with Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay. I have heard the clang of
Confederate shot against the sides of Monitor. I have suffered the cold with
Peary at the North Pole, and I responded when Dewey said, "You may fire when
ready Gridley," at Manila Bay. It was I who transported supplies through sub
marine infested waters when our soldier's were called "over there."

I was there as Admiral Byrd crossed the South Pole. It was I who went down
with the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, who supported our troops at Inchon, and
patrolled dark deadly waters of the Mekong Delta.

I am the American Sailor and I wear many faces. I am a pilot soaring across
God's blue canopy and I am a Seabee atop a dusty bulldozer in the South
Pacific. I am a corpsman nursing the wounded in the jungle, and I am a
Torpedoman in the Nautilus deep beneath the North Pole. I am hard and I am
strong. But it was my eyes that filled with tears when my brother went down
with the Thresher, and it was my heart that rejoiced when Commander Shepherd
rocketed into orbit above the earth. It was I who languished in a Viet Cong
prison camp, and it was I who walked upon the moon. It was I who saved the
Stark and the Samuel B. Roberts in the mine-infested waters of the Persian
Gulf. It was I who pulled my brothers from the smoke-filled compartments of
the Bonefish and wept when my shipmates died on the Iowa and White Plains.
When called again, I was there, on the tip of the spear for Operations
Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

I am the American Sailor. I am white and black, yellow, red and brown. I am
Christian, Jew, Muslim and Buddhist. I am Irish, Filipino, African, French,
Chinese, and Indian. And my standard is the outstretched hand of Liberty.
Today, I serve around the world; on land, in air, on and under the sea. I
serve proudly, at peace once again, but with the fervent prayer that I need
not be called again. Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice,
and how my spirit soars above their country. I have spread the mantle of my
nation over the ocean, and I will guard her forever. I am her heritage and
yours."

********

Author: MUCM J. Wallace, USN

"KØHB" wrote in message
.net...


I am the American Sailor

Author unknown