Kiss your wives and farewell your friends
it’s time my lads to stand with the men,
bloodied red bayonets and mouths painful dry
bandage your brothers, and try not to cry.

The Vietcong are coming all black down the road
so take up your rifles and aim well and load,
forget all your dreams and remember your past
I fear that this battle may well be your last.

Stay firm in the trenches, shoot slightly low
ignore dying friends as the cannon mouths glow,
the enemy are evil and slavery their name
so fix tight your bayonets and mark well the aim.

So kiss all your wives and hug tight your child
for today is the day when death will run wild,
the tracer bright ribbons will cut them down clean
in the eddies of battle by dirty brown streams.

So hold tight your brothers and farewell your babes
today is the day you’ll be in your graves,
falling and calling in cordite’s white cloud
the jungle forever your lonely brave shroud.

So remember my friends those D Company men
who laid down their lives in Long Tan’s green glens,
salute all your sons and the seventeen lost
who paid for our freedom, the ultimate cost.

©Lt. John A. Moller
Whiskey Two Company RNZIR