Sands Of Iwo Jima
Album(s): The Dirty South,Sung by: Patterson Hood
Written by: Patterson Hood
George A. was at the movies in December '41.
They announced it in the lobby what had just gone on.
He drove up from Birmingham back to the family's farm.
Thought he'd get him a deferment, there was was much work to be done.
He was a family man, even in those days,
but Uncle Sam decided he was needed anyway,
in the South Pacific over half a world away.
He believed in God and Country, things was just that way.
Just that way.
When I was just a kid I spent every weekend
on the farm that he grew up on so I guess so did I.
And we'd stay up watching movies on that black and white TV
We watched "The Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne.
Every year in June, George A. goes to a reunion
of the men that he served with and their wives and kids and grandkids.
My Great Uncle used to take me and I'd watch them recollect
about some things that I could not comprehend.
And I thought about that movie, asked if it was that way.
He just shook his head and smiled at me in such a loving way.
As he thought about some friends he will never see again.
He said "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima."
Most of those men are gone now but he still goes every year.
And George A.'s still doing fine, especially for his years.
He's still living on that homestead in the house that he was born in.
And I sure wish I could go see him today.
He never drove a new car though he could easily afford it.
He'd just buy one for the family and take whatever no one wanted.
He said a shiny car didn't mean much after all the things he'd seen.
George A. never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima.
George A. never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima.