In the past I’ve told my friends on this website about the sacrifices my dad made fighting with the 3rd Armored Division in France and Germany. And I’ve told you that I have five family members buried in Arlington. But I’ve never told you the following story because I didn’t know it until three weeks ago.
My dad was commanding one of General George Patton’s tank battalions in the last months of World War II when a German soldier fired a bazooka from the upper floor of a chalet in the town of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Dad, who had massive head wounds and extensive brain damage, was taken by the Nazis as a prisoner of war. How he got out is a story for another day. But he survived and after a long battle with Alzheimer’s he died in 1997. The basic facts are in his seventy year-old military and medical records.
Just a few weeks ago a close friend discovered that many graves in Arlington have their own websites. I never knew that! But it gets stranger, still. On my dad’s website is a poem posted by my younger brother several years ago. On this Easter Sunday I would be an irresponsible son and a horrible brother if I neglected to re-post it for you.
PASSPORT
Dedicated to LTC Edward D. Lucas, Jr. 1915-1997
Daddy was a soldier in 1942,
A quiet man who never told of all that he went through.
But this fading soldier was dying in his bed,
While memories and battle wounds made war inside his head.
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
His circuit board had failed him. He prattled as he went.
We heard his words but no one understood just what he meant.
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
Now some think there’s a Heaven for heroes who pass on,
Who give their lives for God and country until God calls them home.
But Daddy seemed to know that he’d never get that far,
Until Somebody put the perfect stamp upon his heart.
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
It was January when it was time to die.
They knew my Dad would pass that night,
But I could say, “Goodbye.”
His eyes were glazed and fixed upon the passport by his bed.
And finally I understood the countless times he said,
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
As his light was fading, and I looked into his face,
Some mysterious visitor had stamped his passport with Grace.
By Gregory D. Lucas Son of LTC Edward D. Lucas, Jr.
Added: Dec. 10, 2011
(link to Arlington gravesite)
