The Ballad Of Rodger Young

Dick Haymes

"Oh they've got no time for glory in the infantry--

They've got no use for praises loudly sung;

But in every soldier's heart in all the infantry,

Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.



Shines the name, Rodger Young,

Fought & died for the men he marched among.

In the everlasting annals of the infantry,

Shines the last deed of Private Rodger Young.



Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen--

Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom;

Caught in ambush until one of twenty riflemen

Volunteered, volunteered to meet his doom.



Volunteered, Rodger Young,

Volunteered for the men he marched among...etc.



It was he who drew the fire of the enemy

That a company of men might live to fight--

And before the deadly fire of the enemy

Stood the man, stood the man we sing tonight.



Stood the man, Rodger Young, etc.



On the Island of New Georgia in the Solomons

Stands a simple wooden cross alone to tell

That beneath the silent coral of the Solomons

Sleeps a man, sleeps a man remembered well.



Sleeps a man, Rodger Young, etc."