To you Tracer, this place will always be a sanctuary!

May you rest and guard for the rest of us to come home.

Tracer’s Gone

“Tracer’s gone” -- the way it hit me

I thought I hadn’t read it right –

So I drew a breath and looked again;

“Tracer passed away last night.”

I know I should have seen it coming –

All of us someday must part;

So what is in this morning’s message

That blows such storms across my heart?

Tracer’s gone – and left us wishing

That we’d had more time to say

How his presence gave us courage

To carry on, day after day!

How, on any night, in a two-man fox-hole

You could count on Tracer to the end;

A Comrade, a Brother and a good Marine –

He made you proud when he called you “Friend”!

Who are these that come to mourn him?

What is this crowd that gathers ‘round?

Is that the wind – or did I hear sobbing?

Who can say what makes that sound?

See them silently assemble

Through the mist of this strange night –

Do they come to honor a fallen hero?

“They look like Warriors in this light!”

They muster in honor of a cherished comrade;

They have come to say farewell to him

Who, in the battle’s raging, wild inferno,

Once stood, side by side, with them.

Hard-eyed men, and heavy-handed,

Sometimes brutal – always frank;

Standing stunned in silent tribute,

Where they gather, rank on rank.

Brothers now, and Brothers always –

Brought together on a field of strife,

Where they supped that ancient Blood-Communion

“Wound for wound, and Life for Life!”

Here are those who have borne the burden,

Those who have sacrificed and bled;

The Fraternity of The Half-Forgotten –

The Brotherhood of The Walking Dead.

Tracer’s gone – and yeah, we’ll miss him --

Like we’d miss a hand or miss an eye!

But, he is part of each of us forever –

And that part of him will never die!

 Author: IronFeather (Doug Todd)

Walk on Tracer!!