LOST YOUTH

On the day the bombs began to fall
Uncle Sam issued his famous call.
His posters appeared every place
A very stern president with frowning face.
He said we will wipe out this yellow race
We will avenge this terrible disgrace.

Now I was seventeen and not too bright
To want to go some place and fight.
So I told my mother I would go
Why I will march against the foe.
Perhaps I will be a big hero
And my name up in lights will glow.

So I ran right down and volunteered
But no bands played and no one cheered.
A speech was made by some old cuss
He thanked each and every one of us.
Then they loaded us on a greyhound bus
And left our loved ones to cry and fuss.

Dear Mom I promised to write when I can
Well today your son became a man.
I learned to drink beer and I learned to smoke
I learned to laugh at a dirty joke.
I learned to whistle and how to leer
At girls that came anywhere near.

Camp Mc,Cain,was a real dismal place
It didnt have a lot of saving grace.
It was just a dump surrounded by mud
Smack in the middle of a swamp of crud.
And when it rained every thing would flood
When you looked around it would curl your blood.

Then we packed up and left one day
It was nineteen forty three in the month of May.
In the Army it's always a happy scene
To leave a place where you have been treated mean
And go some place where you have never been.
Today is my birthday I have turned eighteen.

But if I were smart I could look ahead and see
Just what the Army was planning for me.
Because a General some where began to shout
Waving papers and running about.
We are shipping this whole damn bunch out
Send them over to fight the kraut.
~Elmer Ake~