And the flag draped coffins are a sailin' home And the waves are watching as the engine drones As the ship draws near, hear the bugle moan The sad and silent song of a soldier With a hero's greeting we will welcome him With hero's speeches we will honor him With a hero's ending we will bury him That's the sad and silent song of a soldier And comfort his family with a telegram We regret to inform you we have lost a man But we gave him the highest medal of the land That's the sad and silent song of a soldier We know what an awful price he had to pay But the enemy was contained for another day We trained him well, but he would have wanted it that way That's the sad and silent song of a soldier Oh, the weary wounded they wait by his side Wondering why they hadn't also died The picture of victory on it's pride
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier And the flag is at half mast wet with foreign rain Ignored by the stranger he had helped to train To him it was his duty to them again That's the sad and silent song of a soldier At arlington he's lowered down without a pause And his native land welcomes him with open jaws And the tombstone reads such a noble cause That's the sad and silent song of a soldier Now a moment of silence for the broken man While the president proudly crows "we'll never bend" And cheers their replacements marching off again That's the sad and silent song of a soldier And the flag draped coffins are a sailin' home And the waves are a watchin' as the engines drone As the ship draws near, hear the bugle moan The sad and silent song of a soldier