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Eighth of November

by Big Kenny & John Rich (2006)
[re: survival of Nialls Harris (US Army ret) in ambush during Operation Hump on 8 November 1965, when the 173rd Airborne Brigade, on Hill 65 in War Zone D, were attacked by over 1200 Viet Cong soldiers, resulting in 48 American combat deaths]


    He said goodbye to his momma
    As he left South Dakota
    To fight for the Red, White, and Blue
    He was nineteen and green
    With a new M-16
    Just doing 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 crying
    As they carried his brothers away
    With the fire raining down
    And the hell all around
    There were few men left standing that day
    Saw the eagle fly
    Through a clear blue sky
    1965, the 8th of November

    Now he's 58
    And his pony tail's gray
    But the battle still plays in his head
    He limps when he walks
    But he's strong when he talks
    About 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 crying
    As they carried his brothers away
    With the fire raining down
    And the hell all around
    There were few men left standing that day
    Saw the eagle fly
    Through a clear blue sky
    1965, the 8th of November

    Saw the eagle fly
    Through a clear blue sky
    1965

    On the 8th of November
    The angels were crying
    As they carried his brothers away
    With the fire raining down
    And the hell all around
    There were few men left standing that day

    On the 8th of November
    The angels were crying
    As they carried his brothers away
    With the fire raining down
    And the hell all around
    There were few men left standing 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 momma
    As he left South Dakota
    To fight for the Red, White, and Blue
    He was nineteen and green
    With a new M-16
    Just doing what he had to do





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