Have you seen old warships?
Sitting alone at the pier,
Waiting for a chance to fight again,
Waiting to see a new frontier.
They remember great storms of thunder.
Of guns rumbling through the dark,
They remember the shores of Normandy,
As they watched the men disembark.
They’ll whisper memories of Midway,
Of Jutland and Gibraltar,
They’ll tell you stories of drowning men,
Of how they never thought to falter.
I wonder if they know the battles from long ago,
Of wooden ships and triremes,
Of graves forgotten down below.
All I know is that they’re waiting,
For when war begins to grow.
These are beasts of war we’ve forged,
From iron and from flame,
What hells they shall sail through,
What storms they shall tame.
For this is the law of the ocean,
Unwritten and strange it be,
It be best that you observe them,
And go down with the ship to the sea,
Upon one link of the cable,
Depends the might of the chain,
You don’t know when you might be tested,
So live that you might bear the strain.
Then visit those old warships,
As they rest at the edge of the sea,
Listen to them whisper,
As they tell you of what they’ve seen,
They’ll warn of war’s coming,
Of the price it takes to be free,
They’ll lie in wait forever,
Whispering,
“Wake me when you need me.”
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In 1944 a kitten named George (short for General Electric) was saved from drowning by a U.S. Navy crew member. George was then photographed and given a liberty card and detailed health record. Source.
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