Dr. Donald Johnson — English professor and poet in residence at East Tennessee State University — was last fall’s Bingham Visiting Reader. In honor of Veterans Day, Dr. Johnson began his reading with two poems about soldiers and war. The first, “The Sergeant,” was inspired by his father, a World War II veteran who later commanded a squad of the Honor Guard that traveled through West Virginia. The second poem he read, titled “Point Lookout, Maryland,” recalled the American Civil War. An avid sports fan and accomplished sportswriter, Dr. Johnson served for 16 years as general editor of Aethlon: Journal of Sports Literature. His most recent book of poetry is More Than Heavy Rain.
When others mustered out in ’46, you soldiered
on, commanding a squad that buried the box
after narrow box the Army sent home from abroad.
For a year the wind off the Kasserine,
peasants muddled to their knees on Mindanao
and oceans being oceans all over the world
kept turning up dead West Virginians.
— From “The Sergeant”