Pathfinder…
Appointed one, delegated to find a path
Many are called, few are chosen, chosen to search through binds of wrath
For once the chimes and laughs…fade…soldiers are made, braves take flight
Flight or fight, and sometimes both that’s why we call this a Way of Life
When days and nights coincide and pride hides under the calloused, burnt hands
We carry the torch on proudly now but only because there was that first man
Those first men…stepped up on first and ten with waves to learn
Unaware they’d leave an endowment of such profound sense…a legacy in laymen’s terms
The praises turned…indeed they earned, running uphill against the breeze
They did more than graze the frame; they changed the game in ‘63
In ’59 the journey’s genesis where three elite entered the premises
Behold the loathe to those who broke the mold, potential rendered limitless
Washington D.C. sent its suitor bearing knowledge and discernment
Noted by the bulk as “Chuck” yet nursed as birth as Charles Vernon
A stern man, Intelligence was his forte, or so the norms say
A cicerone who rose amidst the stones of contempt, so now the road’s paved
Back in those days New York’s valor came in 78 inches of tower
A force of power that ventured to Colorado by way of Howard
And found his love while roaming through the clouds and mass of blue
Surpassed his youth but established a new mold in the ranks of Globemaster IIs
So that’s the crew…but wait, there’s still the great who spawned ambition
Exemplified in none better than he bearing 432 combat missions
These three warriors…enduring night so we may have the key of dawn
At first three strong, but joined our Force of Air through the trials of Vietnam
So here I stand, a living imprint of these three founding individuals
Our race’s potters who “waded in the water” like the old Negro spirituals
My Way of Life…the impossible became possible in ‘63
Epic of warriors, voyage of virtue, the Pathfinder’s Legacy