I've spent a lot of time looking for you
my squad
thinking about you and having those thoughts
brings smiles to my face
sometimes I laugh out loud in a quiet room
it brings funny looks
but they don't know where I've been
just now and back then
they don't know what it's like to have brothers
Oh, they might have one or more from their mothers
but not like the ones in my squad
my brothers, my men
"The Saturday Night Fights"
is what we were named
‘cause we had a few spats
and they always seemed to happen on Saturday night
"We work hard and we play hard" we liked to say
and sometimes the playing got carried away
but don't mess with my squad
we were tight, my men
Gillette Blue Blades would not have sponsored
our Saturday Night Fights
they wouldn't have gone to the places we'd been
me and my squad back in Vietnam
I know you're out there my squad, my men
I keep trying to find you
and when I do it'll be fun
but where in the hell are you
my squad, my men?
yes you were men, my squad
all of you
even though you were only nineteen
and I was the old one
turned twenty five at the time
you called me ‘old man’
me and our squad leader Lupe
he was the same age as I back then
and if he made it
he's still the same age that I am
I just got a late start on you guys
how much more you had seen by the time
you were nineteen
you're out there
Scotty's in Oregon (I hope, amen)
Jake the Jew's in Minnesota
Gunn, L.R. Smith, Fat Willy, ‘Cassius’ Clay
Little Joe, where are you?
I thought I had Larsen one day on the phone
when he answered I got dizzy
and nearly cried
then the son of a bitch said
"No, I'm a World War II vet,
hope you find your friend, son
it'll be fun when you do
good luck and God speed."
he was a nice guy
it was just the crushing disappointment
nearly did me in
Doherty’s a funny story
if you're the phone company
I called every Dave Doherty with a listed phone
in California
thought he might have settled down there
him and the girl he fell in love with
when we got back home
he was from Boston
my man
but that little Italian girl turned his head around
her and her eggplant parmesan
so I started calling them all
started down south near L.A.
then worked my way up
north of Monterey Bay
and kept going to the edge of Oregon
"are you the Dave Doherty
I served with in ‘nam?"
couldn't find you, Dave
but one day I found an old tape in a trunk
one we made for my friends back home
to introduce my squad to them
your voice, it was as I remembered, but
when the hell did you change your name to Bill?
oh well, back to the phones
better luck this time
I know I’ll find you
and when I do
I hope I find the rest of them, too
it'll be fun
my squad
my friends
my forever friends
my men

© Gary Lillie - May not be reproduced without the express permission of the author.