And the band....
For Memorial Day, Garrison Keillor sang a lovely little repurposing of Eric Bogle's protest, "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda".
And how well I remember how at Anzio
We strolled to the beach through the water
And the counterattack was a powerful blow
And we fell like lambs at the slaughter.
Who misread the enemy? Too late to tell.
We were pounded by bullets and bombs and by shell
And in two days they blew us to hell
Nearly blew us right back to New Jersey.
The full lyrics are here (though someone forgot to credit the original song). They've been softened, alas.
In a field north of Rome I raised up my head
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what had happened, I wished I was dead
And I lay there a month without talking.
The original is a hell of a lot better:
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead.
Never knew there was worse things than dyin'.