I set aside the comforts of home,
set out for distant parts unknown,
learned the abhorrent skills of war
and fought side-by-side with men I hardly knew
until, forged by battle, the bonds of friendship grew.

When, as is the wont of war, those bonds were torn to hell
and good friends died in the horrors of shot and shell,
we marched on, through the tears of sorrow
knowing that they gave, as we who lived, for your tomorrow.

Now I must leave you until we meet once more
in that place of eternal peace; on Heaven’s distant shore.
Do not grieve for me as you might for others
For I have gone to join a band of brothers.