With His Shadow For an Only Friend
George Weslow 
Nightfall is here again
And the camp sleeps,
But the troops are counting days
Instead of counting sheep.
And everyone's mind
Is ten thousand miles away,
Across the endless waves
To their home in the U.S.A.
A Marine leads a lonely life
Foreign to every nationality,
But is still the only tool
The living symbol of Liberty.
The Japanese don't trust him
And their eyes reveal their fear,
But when their livelihood is threatened
They're thankful that he's near.
In dangers of war
They welcome him with open arms,
And they call him "brother"
When he protects them from harm.
But in peacetime
Once more he's all alone,
And then they call him "killer"
And scream "Yankee go home."
They cheat him and rob him
And their hearts are filled with hate,
They talk of Hiroshima
And blame him for her fate.
They don't remember Pearl Harbor
Or the massacre there,
Only the "baby killers"
That came from over the sea somewhere.
The American Marines
Who came after Pearl,
With death in their eyes
And minds in a whirl.
The silent martyrs of death
Coming to revenge their own,
The wild-eyed Marines
Who still stand alone.
Yes, he still stands alone
But he walks proud and tall,
And when once more danger threatens
Once more he'll beckon to their call.
And once more they'll call him "brother"
And praise the United States,
And their fear of Marines
Will supersede their hate.
They'll forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki
For the duration of the war,
And then "child killer" and "Yankee go home"
Will be their cry once more.
It's tough being a Marine
Because the only ones who care,
Are ten thousand miles from now,
Over the seas somewhere.
Yes, he who stands, and walks alone
Has his shadow for an only friend,
But walks as a giant killer
Tall and proud, but alone among men!
