P-38 WWII poem
Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:15 am
My father was a 1st Division Marine in the Pacific during WWII. He landed on Tulagi with the first wave and then moved to Guadalcanal a week later. His main job was driving a duece and a half truck, and he told me that he dragged many damaged aircraft off of Henderson field into the jungle. He passed away a few months ago and while going thru his memorabilia we found a stack of poems (some he wrote and some he collected) while in the south pacific. One is a cute little ditty on the P-38. I don't know if it has been published before, but here it is;
WORD TO THE WISE
The P-38 is a smooth little crate
That will go as though chased by the devil.
It will do loop-the-loops, alone or in groups,
And it rides like a dream on the level.
But the P-38 is a plane that I hate;
Its tail is, I must say, askew.
If your caught in a slump, and called on to jump,
Here's what P-38's do to you:
They chop you in pieces up there where the fleece is
(You are cut quite in two when you bail);
The reason for this is, the same as with kisses,
You can't jump two pieces of tail.
So pilots beware when you take to the air
And through the bright blue blitherly sail;
You can handle it's rudder unlike any other,
But you can't jump two pieces of tail.
From the collection of pfc Henry W. Barrett, C Company 1st of the 1st, Always a Marine
WORD TO THE WISE
The P-38 is a smooth little crate
That will go as though chased by the devil.
It will do loop-the-loops, alone or in groups,
And it rides like a dream on the level.
But the P-38 is a plane that I hate;
Its tail is, I must say, askew.
If your caught in a slump, and called on to jump,
Here's what P-38's do to you:
They chop you in pieces up there where the fleece is
(You are cut quite in two when you bail);
The reason for this is, the same as with kisses,
You can't jump two pieces of tail.
So pilots beware when you take to the air
And through the bright blue blitherly sail;
You can handle it's rudder unlike any other,
But you can't jump two pieces of tail.
From the collection of pfc Henry W. Barrett, C Company 1st of the 1st, Always a Marine
Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:27 am
Excellent, Brian--thanks for sharing!
The educator in me always appreciates a story with a moral!
The educator in me always appreciates a story with a moral!
Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:11 pm
Brian,
My father was also a Marine on Guadalcanal. He too had a collection of
poems I came across in his effects. Thought you might enjoy this one.
Bill
Song of the Island
In Guadalcanal you'd better park
When the lights fade out in the tropic dark
Or you'll hear the song of the Cactus nights
"Hey you! Turn out them _____ lights.
Condition red or condition green
Just strike a match in the tropic scene
To hear the chorus of the Cactus nights
"Hey you! Turn out them _____ lights.
Colonel, General, Sergeant Major
Light a lamp and it's a wager
You'll hear the song of the Cactus nights
"Hey you! Turn out them _____ lights.
And you'd better turn out them _____ lights
When you hear the song of the Cactus nights.
Or a trigger happy "gob" or Marine
Will give you the works with a mean machine.
My father was also a Marine on Guadalcanal. He too had a collection of
poems I came across in his effects. Thought you might enjoy this one.
Bill
Song of the Island
In Guadalcanal you'd better park
When the lights fade out in the tropic dark
Or you'll hear the song of the Cactus nights
"Hey you! Turn out them _____ lights.
Condition red or condition green
Just strike a match in the tropic scene
To hear the chorus of the Cactus nights
"Hey you! Turn out them _____ lights.
Colonel, General, Sergeant Major
Light a lamp and it's a wager
You'll hear the song of the Cactus nights
"Hey you! Turn out them _____ lights.
And you'd better turn out them _____ lights
When you hear the song of the Cactus nights.
Or a trigger happy "gob" or Marine
Will give you the works with a mean machine.