Poem 13, June 13

Chester Johnson, Poem Five

I went to the Navy in 1942.
I served in World War II,
the Korean War they say was not a war,
and I served in the Vietnam War.  

I was at Guadalcanal
and on the USS Missouri
as a Petty Officer Third Class
from the USS Iowa on September 2, 1945.  

I was there to help wire
a sound system that would be used
by General McArthur. Tojo was there.
I was up on the crowded, second deck  

of the battleship,
looking down
on the signing event.
It’s still hard for me
 
to grasp
how Truman’s two bombs
changed
our world forever.