The Battle for Hill 425

(A day in the life of a Marine Corps “Land Forces Veteran.”)

Battles raging far and wide
Heavy “in come” coming from the other side.
Loud mortar fire fills the air,
Smoke and death are virtually, every-where!

My buddy next to me takes a round
His body crashes to the ground
By a medic shortly to be found,
Death takes on an eerie sound!

But no delay, we can not stay,
Our target still is far away.
We must take this hill, before dawns light
And it’s going to be, one hell of a fight!

Moving forward from trench to trench
The smell of battle has its stench,
Every-where you are, it does abound,
You can’t escape it, it’s all around!

Taking over this target has to be done,
The top vantage point simply must be won.
No mater what the heavy cost,
The battle for this hill, just can’t be lost!

Crackling rifles, grenades and machine gun fire
Soon deter our enemies’ resistance desire.
The hill is now ours and so ends the day
But the wars victory is still, many battles away!

William Grant Burns, Poet Laureate

The City of Irvine and the Orange County Great Park are most supportive of and have very close ties to the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, having recently adopted a Marine battalion.