| "THE WAR TO END ALL WARS"
By: Frank B. Arnott, U.S. Navy WW-II There are few of you younger vets That can even remember, That Sunday morning The seventh of December. The year was 1941, And for us older vets, our war had begun. The Japs had caught us while we were at church, And Battleship row was left in the lurch. Their bombs rained down from Oahu's skies And killed an awful lot of our guys. The Arizona lies there still A sunken grave to our brothers killed. We were just kids, right out of school, But our country's call left no room for fools. We had to get out there and get in the fight, For our families and sweethearts , to make it right. Some enlisted, some were drafted, some were already in, But the job there before us was about to begin. Our war was fought in two different worlds, Europe and the Pacific were both full of perils. Our guys were at Angio, Palermo, and bombing Berlin, While in the Pacific our missions were about to begin. Our Soldiers, Sailors and Marines were be- ing hit left and right, But I never saw one of them run from the fight. After VE day had come and gone, The war in the Pacific was still going strong. The Philippines and Iwo, Saipan and Guam, Some of the places where it was going on, Mac Arthur had promised that he would return, He'd not let the Philippian Islands sit there and burn Then on to Okinawa and Japans home shores, We had them running, they didn't want any more. After Yokahama and Nagasaki were hit with "Big Boy" Japans back was broken, and they hadn't a ploy. It was almost over those Hellish days, The Japanese flag was loosing it's rays. So in the middle of August of '45 , Mac Arthur was back and we had survived. The armistice was planned, we knew we had won. The Big One was over, no more rising sun. We had fought for our country, our kids and wives, We fought for you too, with our lives. It ended on the Missouri, a battleship so grand, And on Battleship Row is where it began. Seems fitting now to have it end that way, The "War to End All Wars" was over today. Now it was time to look at comrades left behind, With the sound of taps still in our mind. We had done our bit to make this a better place, There was no need for anyone to feel disgraced. We fought so no one would have to go again, We came home to our families, the GI Bill and then Korea raised it's ugly head and we were again at war, Than along came Nam and The Gulf, what were we fighting for. Ours was the War to End All Wars, but it wasn't going to be, There is always someone out there waiting for us to set them free. So here's to our brothers, sweethearts and friends, That we've left round the world after the con- flict ends. I salute you young men for the jobs you have done Because of you my comrades, we're still number one. Dedicated to all veterans of the United States armed forces |