Edgar A. Tieman

FAR AWAY

Far away is a land called Vietnam
A land of rice paddies and jungles thick
The homeland of the Vietnamese
Why they sent me there I don’t know why
There was a North and a South
Why, I don’t know!

When I signed that dotted line
I never knew there was a Vietnam
‘Til that day my orders came
Where the hell is Vietnam?
On the map it look so small
Who would want a country that small?
It only looked a few miles wide and few miles long
This war would be over in a very short time

We landed on the beach in a hail of fire
Where the hell did they come from?
We left blood from end to end
When will it ever end?
Ten years later we did come home
Not proud heroes as we ran like hell
Now I know where Vietnam is.

Author’s Note: This is written for William Donald whose introduction to Vietnam was a beach landing under fire. It is his story