Pearl Harbor is slipping too far out of sight
In the softening mists of time;
The cries of the innocent at Lidice
Fall on dull ears - accustomed to crime.
We're smug, with our jobs, and a fat pocket- book,
Home cooking and fireside ease;
The freedom to go to a game or a show,
Or to do just about as we please.
While our boys were dying in strange Sicily,
I witnessed - with burning shame
Some husky young men in a perky war plant
Camouflaging a poker game.
A woman - without any hostage to give -
Was decrying a pay check too lean,
And threatened to make all her drill pieces scrap
'Til they'd give her a lighter machine.
Yes, freedom for all has always been bought
By a few - in this land of the free;
But DON'T LET OUR PRECIOUS BOYS BE CRUCIFIED
ON THE CROSS OF OUR OWN APATHY.