A letter to my grandfather, who i never got the chance to meet

Dear, grandfather, whom I have never had the chance to meet
I am writing this on a night like any other night
From you, I am left with my dear brothers namesake
Who i admire very much
And some letters passed down from your old friends
Not to mention, a home in canada
Which the anguish of your soul necessitated
You celebrated the brothers and sisters who saw the violence in war
That was happening in the 1960’s
You had undeniable trepidation facing these events,
And i know
The dark times show more truth than we care to read into
And is more cutting to our hearts, more dysphoric to the senses
Than we could ever bare to reclamate

The neighbours said they would burn the house down, they wanted to tear you apart
cowards! they cried
funny, in a free country
you can still support wars 
that are frugal
chucking money at a war machine
gaining political popularity through malfeasance of truth
you, grandfather, could see that however you look at it
it might tear you apart even more,
to see your sons perish 
in a war that, you know
takes more innocent lives 
than not

But still we are left with great gifts from your intellect, and astounding wisdom
My pen falls deaf to the true sacrifice it took
To save your family from war
You were even chronicled in life magazine
A family of ten, moves from indiana
You said, perhaps the young ones will never come to truly appreciate what you've done
God works in mysterious ways after all
---
I was astounded by the way you wrote to your friends
I always wondered where i got it from
We have more to thank you for than you would ever know
---
You may have escaped to your typewriter
To distract
With that knuckling down
I see it in my dad now
They still learned from you
Five daughters,
And five sons -
One of them is now an auntie
Funny that, the times still haven't caught up with our family has it?
My dad says, you can't always expect people
To do the right thing
---
I wanted to say
That wishing to not see your sons fall victim to a war machine
In a country you knew was unwilling to see
That truth -
Is heroic
I want to thank you
Because I know that
Life was never the same again
You said of your wife jean, that you are at sea in different ships
And i feel that, all these tribulations, are passed down in more ways than i care to say
And not to be uncouth
But i'm glad you didn't live to see the times we’re living in now
You would be glad you moved to canada
Your steel heartedness, your vigor for truth in this world still reflects on us today
Your own words were immense in meaning
You always left fond words with those in your life
---
There's a quote that hangs on our wall now, with you preaching at the dinner table -
It is not difficult for us to win an occasional
Battle against evil
To raise our banner of triumph, to be good for
a day, or a moment
It is the realization that we must be good all our
lives , to the very moment of death
It is not saying we will never falter or fall
Or fail
It is saying we must never
Give up attempt