The waves licked steel
They turned them loose
Into hell they ran with close toed boots-
That’s what happened on Peleliu
Bullets kicked
And ammo flew
And blood too slow to rise stayed blue-
That’s what happened on Peleliu
It was hell on the right and hell on the left
The japs fired and the coral too thick to dig into
Remained where it was as Satan reigned-
On Bloody Peleliu
Men fell and cracked and spilled and cried
As darkness settled in, thoughts died
They closed their torn eyes near corpses lied-
That’s what happened on Peleliu
To believe they’d go home
After every battle and place to kill and roam
Blood gushed back and forth between every pore-
That’s what happened on Peleliu
Flesh scorched, hearts eaten, eyes bleached by the heat of the sun
Empty stomachs and swollen throats
Hate surfaced and screamed because of that son of a gun-
That’s what happened on Peleliu
Limbs affray and weary souls
Retreating thoughts and gunshot wounds
Captain Ack Ack, their beloved leader, went to heaven and beyond the moon-
That’s what happened on Peleliu
The First fought hard
The Fifth fought fierce
The Seventh fought until there was nothing more to do-
That’s what happened on Peleliu.
And without those retreating thoughts and shaking strokes
Of one man’s hand between holy verses
Did they not, out of honesty, bring tears with memories and coax? –
From Bloody Peleliu
And had he not wrote
The triumphs and death all-round the sea
Of their quiet feet and laughter remote
Forgetting the people they were in times of peace-
And not on Peleliu
Shattered men did fight and groan
The hope of life eclipsed from what war does reap
Grown men in anguish felt darkness pool round their feet
And each shattering bone
As the wings of angles did surge in tide while mortals of earth did weep and weep
On Long Lost Peleliu.