I got drafted at 19
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Me and a bunch of boys from home
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January ¡¯43, drove out to Pine Bluff and signed on
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Went to basic south of Birmingham
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Put me on west coast bound train
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Spent three days out in San Diego
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And they shipped me back east again
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Left a port out of New York
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Slept for months in British rain
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Tore it up down in London town
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And they shipped me back out again
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The preacher said ¡°Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise¡±
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One boy spoke up, said ¡°preacher come on, eat your supper with us
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Never talk about those first days
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Lots of friends left behind
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But I made it all the way across France
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And I fought at the Maginot line
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Road a tank into Belgium
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Like them better than the French
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Like my daddy, thirty years before
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I did my time in a trench
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Lots of days there¡¯s no water
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But the liquor kept me warm
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The cellars were stocked to the ceiling with booze
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So I carried a bottle with my gun
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The preacher said ¡°Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise¡±
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One boy spoke up, said ¡°preacher come on, eat your supper with us¡±
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Three times I made sergeant
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I¡¯m not that kind of man
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And pretty much just as quick as I could
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I get busted back to private again
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Cause taken¡¯ orders never suited me
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Giving them out was much worse
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I could not stand to get my friends killed
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So I took care of myself first
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Now I know that don¡¯t sound right
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Don¡¯t think too bad of me
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Now it keeps me up nights
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What I could have done differently
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The preacher said ¡°Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise.¡±
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One boy spoke up, said ¡°preacher come on, eat your supper with us¡±
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I¡¯d be no guest at the table of the Lord
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His food was not to be mine
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¡®Cause I cursed His name every chance that I could
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And I recon that¡¯s why I¡¯m still alive
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The War
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Lucero |