The Sands of Iwo Jima Drive-By Truckers

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's 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"