They heard the bang in the guard room
Then as from a hideous dream
They heard a car speed off
Accompanied by a sobbing scream
He was standing there swaying
Just yards from the camp gate
Very suddenly sober
Asking for his mate
Who was lying there moaning
But he said no not him or me
Please go and find my mate
The other of us three
A good distance further down the road
They found him already dead
Smashed around the body
Unmarked in the head
Driven in to the groin
Of the boy on the ground
Was a part of his leg and
His missing shoe was found
His final night of freedom
The end of his bachelor life
For the very next day
He was to be joined by his wife
He was my friend
And for tradition's sake
We sent him on his way
With a good old squaddie wake
For we never thought of dying
Just a comrade posted and gone
Never to be forgotten
As life inexorably moved on
