8th of November

Said goodbye to his mom

As he left South Dakota

To fight for the red white and blue

He was nineteen and green

With a new M-16

Just doin' what he had to do

He was dropped in the jungle

Where the choppers would rumble

With the smell of napalm in the air

Then the sergeant said

Look up ahead

Like a dark evil cloud

1200 came down

On him and 29 more

They fought for their lives

But most of them died

In the 173rd airborne

On the 8th of November

The angels were cryin'

As they carried his brothers away

With the fire rainin' down

And the hell all around

There were few men left standin' that day

Saw the eagle fly

Through a clear blue sky

In 1965, the 8th of November

Now he's 58

And his ponytail's gray

But the battle still plays in his head

He limps when he walks

But he's strong when he talks

'Bout the shrapnel they left in his leg

He puts on a gray suit

Over his airborne tattoo

And he ties it on one time a year

And remembers the fallen

As he orders a tall one

And swallows it down with his tears

On the 8th of November

The angels were cryin'

As they carried his brothers away

With the fire rainin' down

And the hell all around

There were few men left standin' that day

Saw the eagle fly

Through a clear blue sky

In 1965, the 8th of November

Saw the eagle fly

Through a clear blue sky

1965

On the 8th of November

The angels were cryin'

As they carried his brothers away

With the fire rainin' down

And the hell all around

There were few men left standin' that day

On the 8th of November

The angels were cryin'

As they carried his brothers away

With the fire rainin' down

And the hell all around

There were few men left standin' that day

Saw the eagle fly

Through a clear blue sky

1965, the 8th of November

The 8th of November

The 8th of November

He said goodbye to his mama

As he left South Dakota

To fight for the red white and blue

He was nineteen and green

With a new M-16

Just doin' what he had to do