The Crosses Grow on Anzio
Oh, gather ’round me, comrades,
and listen while I speak;
Of a war, a war, a war —
where hell is six feet deep.Along the shore, the cannons roar.
Oh how can a soldier sleep?
The going’s slow on Anzio
and hell is six feet deep.Praise be to God for this captured sod
that’s rich where blood does seep;
With yours and mine, like butchered swine;
and hell is six feet deep.That death does wait there’s no debate;
no triumph will we reap
The crosses grow on Anzio,
where hell is six feet deep.~Audie Murphy (age 19).
This, from someone who left school in fifth grade to pick cotton in order to feed his siblings, enlisted in the Army with forged papers (because he was too young), was wounded in battle many times, in the course of a little over a year in theater became the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in US history, and among the honors won through “blood and sweat and toil and tears” was warded the medal of Honor at age 19.
The visceral response to war he penned in response to his experiences speaks to the price all too many have paid, pay today, and will pay in the future to purchase your liberty.