MY BUDDIES & ME


We're down in the mess deck finishing breakfast.
Dressed in our whites ready to go on Sunday liberty, my buddies & me.
It's just a few more minutes now until "Colors" then a launch across the harbor and a bus into town.

Today is a special day for my buddies & me.
I'm really looking forward to this day's liberty.
Many of us will go our separate ways today,
but not us, we'll be together, my buddies & me.

What was that explosion - - what was that jolt?
What's happening - - WHAT HAPPENED??!!
Silence now - - we're here in the mess deck, my buddies & me.
How long has it been - - an eternity?
We're still in our whites now soiled and ragged by our blood, fuel oil amid the toll of the sea.

I wish we could have made our Sunday liberty.
I would have been nineteen today.
Mom and Pop don't grieve for me - - a battleship sailor is what I wanted to be.
Skeletal hands entwined in our grave at the bottom of the sea.
Hey it's me, it's me and my buddies and me!


I. BUDD NEASE, USNR RETIRED