The Gentle Soldier

Annotation

"The Gentle Soldier" (Dale Records # 1001) by Tony Scott. "American the Beautiful" played in background with spoken-word narrative. Told story of a US soldier severely wounded, losing his eye site and limbs, by a Viet Cong bomb, planted on a baby. It is revealed at end that the narrator was the soldier. Sought to justify strong tactics and criticised those who called for greater caution in war.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Alone on a hospital bed, clean and white, a soldier is dying for freedom tonight / For he paid the price that is full and complete, he gave up his eyes, and his hands, an his feet / Just what did he do to deserve this wrong, he fought for his country against the Vietcong / This young gentle soldier so fresh from the farm, he found it revolting to kill or to harm / He shot no civilian, no woman with child, he lived by the bible gentle and mild / That he trusted people was his big mistake and it was the last one he will ever make / He heard a child crying and went to its aid, it lay in the sun out of reach of the shade / And this was the bait that they used for the trap, a bomb had been tied to this small baby's lap / Just one gentle touch and the damage was done, a wild blinding flash tore the light from the sun / A soldier lay wounded, a baby lay dead and someone a mothering shame on their head / At home people say with the wisdom of fools this war should be fought with the Queens very rules / But why can't they see what they can't understand that triggers respond to the smallest of hands / So now we have come to this moment of truth, what price shall we pay for the lives of our youth / Do we say that they are expendable bonds, conceived to enjoy but a handful of dawns / Speak up if you will sir, what flag do you fly? do you say lets kill them but don't let them die / Do you say lets bring home our planes and our tanks, and fight them with guns that are loaded with…

Notes

Dale Records #1001 (PRP 30051), gold label; "The Gentle Soldier" (Dick Warner), Clay Music, BMI, time 3:10; Dale Records, P.O. Box 1475, Augusta, Ga. 30903, "A Division of Scott-Warner Productions". [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Unknown — not the jazz clarinetist Tony Scott (1921–2007). The record is a small Augusta, Georgia issue on Dale Records, "A Division of Scott-Warner Productions", and the song is by Dick Warner, so this Tony Scott is probably the Scott of that company.

Themes

Patriotic · Soldier's Perspective · VC · Anti-Protest · K.I.A.

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]