It was the calling to duty when all over that hot sand
Thousands and thousands of soldiers had come to from many a land
Their stockings were all steaming as they dried in the hot desert air
Hoping and towards heaven praying that peace would soon be there
The watches had just changed they were all glad to be going to their beds
With joyous visions of loved ones dancing through all of their heads
Others in gear with their helmets and close by their side their masks
Everyone around the world was hoping that HUSSEIN would not use the gas
One would hear the sailor’s chatter of being so far from loved ones they held so dear
But right now that really didn’t matter if the fighting starts, in one quick flash
They load up their ammunition they all have and hit the ground in a flash
The marines are all ready with their mission and now they patiently wait to go
Recapturing the ground that was taken and moving so slow
The soldiers and sailors were all there and each was serving without any fear
They kept corresponding back home to loved that they held so dear
More have been alerted and readied for battle so they could get there quick
The national leaders gave it much thought and they all had to make a tough pick
The leaders named them as they had decided calling them out so loud and so plain
As they addresses each with their tasks and then wrote them all by name
Doctors and nurses to name a few also called were Medics and Policemen
Along with Pilots, Support personnel and Engineers airborne, yes the Infantrymen
Now they all came to the sand as the answered freedoms lone call
Yet the ones that stayed behind them stood proudly behind them all
Many mission in the air the pilots they constantly fly
Because of the support for the troops this is why
Out over the flat desert quickly on a mission they flew
All the branches, Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force too
The sun was steadily beating down on the hot tent roof
Soldiers were constantly training their mission never to goof
The infantrymen were never seen just idly standing around
They were out there constantly pounding the ground
The sand was certainly rough going while traveling a foot
The heaters are all working hard, the chimneys giving off soot
The rucksacks are hanging heavy upon the soldiers aching back
The soldiers thinking of home and when they would be able to get back
The floating hospitals are alert and ready with medics that they carry
Hoping that no bodies will be sent home for families to bury
Bob Hope has come here to give them a holiday show
Trying to bring to the soldiers a little comforting glow
This will certainly help bring the soldiers much needed relief
This night their bayonets will stay quietly in their sheath
They get served T Rations to fill their empty belly
With these you can lose weight and I mean really
Who knows if you will be called and have to come yourself
Tom, John, James, Kathy, Jane and also Ralph
After many long hours we have nothing to dread
Soon it will be our turn and we will be going to bed
Soldiers don’t argue they go straight to their work
None of their responsibilities do they try and shirk
The temperature through the days, from the hot sun, steadily rose
The wind at times was fierce as it certainly harshly and wildly blows
Suddenly the chemical alarm sounds, I can hear that sharp whistle
All into our MOPP gear we quickly to hustle
As I sit and think of all that serve with me tonight
May you all return home happy and safe, without a fight
This is the date, December 7th, 1941
A day that will surely remind everyone
Of the attack on our great navy at Pearl Harbor
A day that is a constant reminder
It was on a Sunday morning so peaceful and calm
The wind blowing gently through the tree’s palm
Soldiers and families had not one single worry
They were going here and there and none did they hurry
Our great navy had ships anchored in the bay
They had been tucked away for the upcoming day
There was what many would call battle ship row
The might of the US Navy was there to show
Soldiers and families went to church on this very day
To the good lord for peace and tranquillity they did pray
A few soldiers manned their assigned gun
Some being bronzed by the rays of the bright sun
Little did anyone know that this island would be under attack
One shot at our mighty navy the Japanese took a crack
The brought a battle group to within miles so slow
Using deceit so that the military there would never know
The carriers were all loaded down with so many planes
Diver bombers, torpedoe planes, fighters and bombers were their names
They flew at the island in waves numbering two
Knowing just what they were expected to accomplish to
They came in for the strike out of the bright sun
The air raid warning was sounded as to stations the soldiers did run
Back to their ships and planes they were assigned for sure
As bomb after bomb from the sky did pour
They were after the airfield and the ships in the harbor
They dropped all they had as it lasted hour after hour
Bombs were exploding and brave would die this day
As all over that harbor the carnage would soon lay
Watching as a gunner loading his gun to fire back
Was lifted from his gun by a bomb from that attack
Soldiers were screaming in agony as so many were in pain
Their bodies being riddled by bullets from the Japanese plane
But gallantly they fought against odds that were so great
Each soldier jumping into action as none of them would wait
The battleships that had been there bobbing in the wave
Were vulnerable targets and were almost impossible to save
Bombs hit them hard and tore holes in their decks
They laid burning and mangled like some old steel made wrecks
Soldiers would fight the fires as the enemy flew overhead
The number would be high when after they counted all of our dead
Bravely they fought against odds that outnumbered them by many
But the quit in them, if you looked, you wouldn’t find any
A bunker would be manned by group and a gun
After a bomb exploded there, the dust cleared, everything was gone
Nurses an doctors had more wounded then they could treat
But the endlessly worked even when they were tired on their feet
You would see the black smoke billow into the air
Somewhere amidst all that smoke, there was a brave ship there
Explosions were heard as many bombs pulled the ships apart
Soldiers that called them home were torn at the heart
Down many would go on this day to a watery grave so deep
As to make them float the brave sailors could not keep
You could smell the odor of burning flesh mixed in with the fuel
The fiery death many faced was so horrible and cruel
As ship after ship sank to the bottom of the once peaceful sea
Bodies and pieces of heroes floating on the surface you could see
Each one a hero that had answered the country’s call
Alive or dead from this day they were a hero one and all
Now December 7th 1941 is important to sailors and many
As it is a date that will surely live on in infamy
Now there is a memorial there in the harbor to those soldiers brave
The ones that survived and the ones that their life they gave
The USS Arizona can be seen just below the water line so blue
It is there as a constant reminder to people like me and you
When ships come in and out of the harbor each day
Passing this memorial, their respects to all the heroes they pay
There is a battle cry that we sorrowfully don’t hear much anymore
It is a tribute to those heroes, “Remember Pearl Harbor”
While fighting a battle in a land far away
Being out in a jungle each and every day
There were different jobs that had to be done
Most of these didn’t bring us very much fun
We would see patrols leaving at the break of the day
Not knowing how long in the jungle they would stay
Fighting back an enemy that was sometimes hard to see
But each time we would go out again, yes them and me
Many brave heroes we lost in this far distant land
Whether from dying or from inside them they wear a dreadful brand
Many carry memories of what happened in those jungles each day
It tears at them and haunts them and will not go away
One of the jobs I learned of was that of the Tunnel Rat
Now most of us would sit and say what is that
Well this the name given to a special group of men
One’s that would put their life on the line again and again
As the soldiers would search every inch of the ground
Many tunnels underneath where they walked, they certainly found
All had once wondered how the enemy could disappear each day
Now finding the secret, they all knew this was the way
So each tunnel had to be searched to see what lay below
So down into the tunnel the “Tunnel Rat” would go
It would be dark and dreary as it wound in so many directions
So they would move along it without much protection
They had to be careful as some were booby trapped to kill
But never did this stop these brave men as they pressed onward still
There would be little shoots of bamboo that were hard to see
But if stuck by one death it could surely mean for me
Moving along as silently as I could while looking around
Remembering many things of horror that I had already found
I had seen some of our brave soldiers that did disappear
And I had found some of their remains laying down here
I searched and found the dog tags that would identify each one
These I would turn in when my job was, for me, finally done
The brave soldiers that had been killed and in these tunnels lay
Deserved all the respects that to them I could pay
As I wound along many tunnels would branch to each side
Not knowing what down these tunnels who or what does reside
But I steadily move on looking for some evidence we can use above
To learn what would be the enemy’s very next move
I hear a noise and suddenly my heart starts to race
What was that and is it something I will soon face
My ear catches the sound of movement suddenly
I stop and quietly I listen for a while so intently
Trying to determine from which tunnel comes the noise I now hear
I make not a sound as I don’t want them to know I am there
I listen intently as they pass and I mark the direction that they go
So when the information is passed on our soldiers above will know
So again I start moving cautiously along my way
Then I see a bamboo ladder headed up and I wonder what there does lay
Slowly I climb upward while each step I take with so much care
Then I come to a little thatched trap door that I lift slowly when I get there
I open it just enough so my eyes can look all around
I find I am in the middle of a bunch of hooches in a little Vietnamese town
So slowly I lower the door and make my way back to the group with what I found
I had marked it exactly so we would know just where to go and find it on the ground
This information will help us to know where the enemy does stay
And this network of tunnels they use for a silent and quick get away
Well I hear voices I recognize coming from up ahead
This job is almost finished, yes this one that I so much do dread
Final I see the light and outside that dark dreary place I can now stand
Tired from traveling along on my knees and my hand
Well this doesn’t sound like much of job to many that may hear
But you would see the difference if you were actually there
I never know if I will make it back to the daylight to see
But I do this job proudly that was assigned to me
I am not a hero nor am I overly brave
But I do this job as I hope a fellow soldier I may save
Each day I enter these tunnels of the unknown and travel along with care
Never do I fill my mind with fear that I might die right there
I just mark what I find and information to use I return with that
Now you all know the life of the one they call “The Tunnel Rat”
They came from all walks of life
To join together in a common cause
Doing as they were all tasked
Always moving forward and never pause
The color of their skin did not matter
As a team together they all did stand
Making sure they kept a caring eye on each other
That no harm to each would there land
They all wore dressed in uniforms that blend
Looking at them the person you couldn’t see
Just the black, brown, green and gray
Keeping the color of the people hidden from me
The equipment they wore was all the same
Only separated by their names alone
Each one looking just like one another
The colors of their skin was now all gone
They all used the same vehicles it didn’t matter
Taking them unknowing from place to place
Not knowing who had gone where at the end of the day
As it didn’t matter with the color of their skin with what they face
The weapons they carry each was assigned
Loaded from the very box one by one
They could be taken from anybody
And if needed could be used in any gun
They are assigned the same tasks to do
No one pays attention to the color of their skin
Before the end of the day they will be side by side
Then each day they start over again
Never hesitating as into battle they have gone
No matter the color of their skin but putting their life on the line
Trying to make sure that all stay safe
So far everything had, for them gone fine
Bullets would wound and others they would kill
It did not matter the color of their skin
Each of them felt the same pain for sure
Then more were brought up to replace them again
The uniforms were all the same on each one
Men and women now laying side by side
Didn’t matter who they were or where they were from
They had answered a call with inward pride
There was only one thing that matters to us all
And this was for no one ever good
Was of that vital fluid that was the same within
And yes I am speaking of their blood
For each person that shed some in their task
Had the right to be treated just and fair
And to be saved no matter the color of their skin
Just give them all the same professional care
Now some say that colors separate us all
And people like me are tired of that crazy chatter
Cause when someone is dying or even hurt
The color of blood is all that does matter
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