This Page Is Dedicated To Dorothy Schafernocker
And To The Memory Of Her Son Michael E. Schafernocker
Like A Lot Of Others On The Internet We Had The Poem Below On Our Web Site Displayed As A Soldier's Prayer--Found On A Dead Soldier In VietNam--Author Unknown
We Now Know That The Above Information Was Not True
Please Read The Letter Below From The Author's Mother
Following Her Letter Is The Actual Poem That Was Written By Her Son
If You Are Using The Poem As A Soldier's Prayer--Found On A Dead Soldier In VietNam--Author Unknown On Your WebSite, Then Please Do As We Did
We Asked For Permission To Use Her Son's Poetry
We Are Honoring Her Sons Service To His Country Along With The Correct CopyRights To His Origional Poetry And Would Hope That You Would Do The Same If You Are Using His Poetry On Your Web Site
God Bless You
And God Bless Mike And His Mom
Dear Folks
Thank You For Sending The Poems, Especially The One About A Soldiers Prayer
I Hope That You Are Sitting Down When You Read This
But My Son , Mike Schafernocker... A Crew Chief And Door Gunner On
A UH 1 B Helicopter With The U. S. Navy "Seawolves" Actually Wrote That Poem Just Before He Died When His Chopper Was Shot Down Over Cambodia... Where He And His Pilot And Co-Pilot Were Actually Buried For 8 Months
They Died April 28--l969
A Gook Surrendered After 8 Months And Led The Beach Jumper.... In Psyops .... Back Into Cambodia And Showed Them Where To Dig
The Big Pieces Of The Chopper Had Been Hauled Off
It Took Another Two Months But They Finally Sent Me A Bag Of Bones In A Casket But We Were Not Allowed To Open It
The Beach Jumper Contacted Me 20 Years Later After Reading A Story In A Game Wadens Magazine About This Particular Crash
Having An Unusual Last Name He Was Able To Locate Me And He Told Me And Gave Me Pictures Of Where They Were Digging
He Said They DID Find 3 Sets Of Teeth And That They Were Able To Positively Identify Them.... Which Gave Me Closure
At Least They Weren't Dog Bones Or Monkey Bones!
At A 20 Year Level I Met My First Seawolf And Found Out They Were Having Their 2nd Reunion.... I Finally Decided To Go... Even Though I Didn't Know Anyone
But I Got The Idea Of Getting The Boxes Of Mike's Things Out Of The Closet That Had Been Sent Home After He Died
I Had Sat Down On The Living Room Floor And Looked Thru Everything But All I Could Do Was Pack It All Back Up And Put It In The Closet As I Still Had Another Son And A Husband And Our Lives Had To Go On Without Mike
In Going Back Thru The Boxes... 20 Years Later... I Picked Out All The Pictures And Poems That Were In The Box
Mike Had Written Poems In High School And Also In The Navy
The Poem That You Said That "Was Found On A Dead Soldier And Was Titled A Soldier's Prayer" Is Wrong
The Title Of The Poem Is "Look, God"
I Have Given Out Thousands Of Copies Since 1989 When I Found It Among His Things
The Good Lord Works In Mysterious Ways
I Wasn't Ready To See That Poem When He First Died
I Have Since Dedicated My Life To The Veterans And That Poem And All The Others I Find Are A Real Help When I Am Working At Any Of The Traveling Walls
In Fact For 3 Months In 1989 And 8 Months In 1990 I Actually Drove The B Unit Of One Of The Moving Walls From San Jose--California
The Regular Driver Got Sick And I Was hired
I Was Told "Who Better To Take Care Of And Drive The Wall".... Than A Gold Star Mother
It Was A Great Honor And A Healing For Me And For The Vets And Mikes Poem Helps People Heal
Incidentally There Are 6 More Lines To The Poem... Which I Felt At The Time Were Very Personal...... But Do To Something That Happened Later On, I Decided To Put Them On
I Found Out That A Supposed Veteran From Virginia Had The Poem Copyrighted In l992.... But He Doesn't Have The Last 6 Lines!!!!!
I Have Found Out That Numerous Copies Say Author Unknown
But I Know The Truth!
When You Read All Of His Other Poems,,, You Will Understand
As Long As People Are Getting Some Good Out Of The Poem... That Is All I Ask
Incidentally That Guy From Virginia Was "Selling" Copies!
I Do NOT Sell Them
I GIVE Them
For Your Information
The Last 6 Lines Are
Shades Of Laughter... Shades Of Love
Circling All Of Us... With Arms Of Love
Don't Cry Momma... I Love You Still
I Always Have And I Always Will
When You Cross The Big Divide
I Promise... I'll Be The First One By Your Side!
I Would Appreciate It If From Now On You Give My Son
Mike Schafernocker His Due Credit For Writing This Poem
He Was
Aviation Ordinancemen 2nd Class
U.S. Navy Seawolf
Born Feb 28, 1949
Died April 28, 1969
Thank You
Sincerely
Mikes Mom
Dorothy Schafernocker
Share Your Thoughts And
Mike's Mom!
Look God
Look God
I Have Never Spoken To You
But Now I Want To Say
"How Do You Do"
You See God
They Told Me You Did Not Exist
And, Like A Fool
I Believed All Of This
Last Night From A Shell Hole
I Saw Your Sky
I Figured Right Then
They Had Told Me A Lie
Had I Taken The Time
To See The Things You Made
I Would Know They Weren't Calling
A Spade A Spade
I Wonder, God
If You Would Shake My Hand
Somehow, I Feel
That You Will Understand
Strange, I Had To Come
To This Hellish Place
Before I Had Time To See Your Face
Well, I Guess There Isn't
Much More To Say
But I Am Glad, God
I Met You Today
I Guess The Zero Hour
Will Soon Be Here
But I Am Not Afraid
Since I Know You Are Near
The Signal - Well, God
I Will Have To Go
I Love You Lots'
This I Want You To Know
Looks Like This Will Be
A Horrible Fight
Who Knows, I May Come
To Your House Tonight
Though I Wasn't Friendly
With You Before
I Wonder, God
If You Would Wait At The Door
Look I Am Crying
Me Shedding Tears!!
I Wish I Had Known You
These Many Years
Well, I Will Have To Go Now, God
Goodbye
Strange, Since I Met You
I Am Not Araid To Die
Shades Of Laughter... Shades Of Love
Circling All Of Us... With Arms Of Love
Don't Cry Momma... I Love You Still
I Always Have And I Always Will
When You Cross The Big Divide
I Promise... I'll Be The First One By Your Side!
CopyRight © 1968-
Mike Schafernocker
Used With Permisson Of Mike's Mom
A Message To God
A Soldier's Prayer
Rick's Poem
A Smile Is Only A Phony Thing
It's Just A Coverup For Anger And Pain
For Here I Am In Vietnam
And Still I Have Never Really Prayed To God
Yet In My Own Mind
I Know God Is Watching Over Me
I Hope With God's Help From Above
I Will Make It Through This
I Only Hope That God Will Send Me All His Love From Above
I Am So Far From Home
In Wide Open Spaces
But I Have No Place To Roam
Yet I Hope That God Is Still Above Watching Over Me
Some People Back Home Don't Give A Damn
While We Fight A War In This Foreign Land
They Protest And Carry Their Dirty Old Signs
While We In Vietnam Wonder What's Wrong With Their Minds
Our Reality Is, That We Are In This War, They Live, We Die
There Is The Possibility That We
Could Meet Our Destiny For The Likes Of Them, Under A Blue Sky
While Our Men And Women, Our Lives, We Are Giving
To Protect Their Freedom, They Are Safe At Home And Living
But I Hope That In Vietnam, There Is At Least One
Who Watches Over Me
He Is Called God And I Am Only One Of His Many Children
I Must Admit That As I Do My Duties Everyday
I Have Not Always Thought Of God In Some Small Way
But I Hope From Above
He Will Always Be Sitting, Watching, Waiting
And In His Arms, Protecting Me
For The First Time
I Give Thanks To God For Protecting And Watching Over Me
For The First Time In My Life
I Get Down On My Knees
And I Really Feel The Power Of Prayer
June The 23rd--1968
The First Time That I Ever Really Prayed To God
CopyRight © 1968-
Rick "IrockBlue" 6-23-1968
Rasky's VietNam Memorial
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RASKY'S VIETNAM MEMORIAL
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