Rodger Young

(album: Tall Tales And Short Tempers - 1961)

[Spoken]
On July 31st 1943 a bloody round in the battle for
the Solomon Islands was being fought in the tangled
Jungle of the island of New Georgia.
This is the story of one of the young men who fought
And died there.
This song is respectfully dedicated to those heroic
Infantrymen who like Rodger Young have sacrificed
Their lives that their nation might remain forever free.

[Sang]
Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen
Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom
Caught in ambush till this one of twenty riflemen
Volunteered, volunteered to meet his doom.

Volunteered, Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among
In the everlasting courage of the infantry
Was the courage of Private Rodger Young.

On the island of New Georgia in the Solomons
Stands a simple wooden cross alone to tell
That beneath the silent coral of the Solomons
Sleeps a man, sleeps a man remembered well.

Sleeps a man, Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among
In the everlasting glory of the infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young...