We’re Moving Out Now (Honoring Gene Carr)

From tyhe Album Elders’ Wisdom; Children’s Song

Inducted in the Army in 1943
When I went to war, I was only nineteen
Young enough to live, old enough to die
Number 37-538-419

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

March until you dropped, crawl on your belly
Under live machine gun fire sizzling
Don’t lift up your head, or you might get killed
From the rifle range to the bayonet drills

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

“No surrender! No retreat! Defeat Germany!”
So said General Patton of the third Army
Man to man. Squad to squad. Platoon to platoon.
Through the Battle of the Bulge we began to move

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

To clean up paratroopers, who dropped behind the lines
A thousand-yard stare – when the bullets fly
Through a tiny slit in the armored shield
To fire back or else be killed

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

Straight into Belgium, a crucial cross-road
Into a gloomy forest covered with snow
Where one hundred thousand Nazi enemy
Five hundred armored vehicles coming at me

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

With no galoshes wading through the ice
From the hills far away I heard Silent Night
But we were mistaken. Then I heard a scream
“I’m wounded. I’m hurt bad. God help me!

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

Fearful that the cries were some kind of trap
That became weaker as the night passed
Out-gunned, out-flanked, a full fledged retreat
Ended when their high-water mark had been reached

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

It was Christmas Eve, so cold the weather dipped
The water in my canteen frozen on my hip _
Hid behind a house, then heard a POP
The 2nd Lieutenant, platoon leader had been shot

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

Crossed the Rhine River at the bridgehead
So much devastation, so many dead
Four months of war, showered in a tent
Where my uniform peeled off in strips

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

Holding field glasses, heard the Captain say,
“Okay men. . .we pay our own way.”
At that instant from a deadly 88
Millimeter shell, the Captain met his fate

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

Then from a mortar shell like a bat against my shins
Knocked me to the ground, could not get up again
Body filled with shrapnel, a million-dollar wound
With ‘Victory in Europe, I knew I’d be home soon

We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

War is total darkness. absence of light
We didn’t have a choice, simply had to fight
Fall down, get up, then fight some more
If I could do one thing, I would put an end to war
We’re moving out now
We’re the soldiers of the U.S. Army

Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 2008 | BMI

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