Bring Them Home
1969 · Columbia CS 9873 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Pete Seeger
- Title
- Bring Them Home
- Release
- Young Vs. Old
- Year
- 1969
- Label
- Columbia # CS 9873
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Pete Seeger
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation — Pete Seeger Songs
Also important on the album Young vs. Old (Columbia Records # CS 9873) was the song "Ballad of the Fort Hood Three", based on the true story of three soldiers who refused to be deployed to Vietnam in 1966. They were Private First Class James Johnson, Private David Samas, and Private Dennis Mora, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, in the 142nd Signal Company, 2nd Armored Division. Taking the case to the Supreme Court in 1967, claiming that the Vietnam conflict was an illegal war, the Court dismissed the suit (Mora v. McNamara 389 U.S. 934). (3) The three soldiers were imprisoned. The lyrics noted that Mora "cast his vote for Johnson in 1964" (a reference to President Lyndon B. Johnson), but concluded that "this war's illegal, immoral, and unjust". Published in Broadside # 74, September 1966, the lyrics changed slightly for this 1969 album. It said sung to the tune of "Peter Amberly (traditional)". Seeger wrote in Broadside that:"the following verses were written August 20, 1966 right after reading the direct statements of three young soldiers, who showed unusual bravery. The poetry is not as good as it should be; I hope the folk process will improve it. If the choice of melody seems…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs
Also important on the album Young vs. Old (Columbia Records # CS 9873) was the song "Ballad of the Fort Hood Three", based on the true story of three soldiers who refused to be deployed to Vietnam in 1966. They were Private First Class James Johnson, Private David Samas, and Private Dennis Mora, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, in the 142nd Signal Company, 2nd Armored Division. Taking the case to the Supreme Court in 1967, claiming that the Vietnam conflict was an illegal war, the Court dismissed the suit (Mora v. McNamara 389 U.S. 934). (2) The three soldiers were imprisoned. Published in Broadside # 74, September 1966, the lyrics changed slightly for this 1969 album. Broadside # 76 published another song about this topic, introduced in the magazine by Bill Frederick, which was unrecorded - "The Fort Hood Three's Answer to the Green Berets" by Grace Mora Newman, the sister of Dennis Mora, sung to the tune of Barry Sadler's Ballad of the Green Beret.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Born 3 May 1919 in Manhattan, New York, USA, died on 27 January 2014, same location