On The Road To Tokio

Come listen, friends, and I will tell a tale you'll like to hear

Of Colonel Evan Carlson, a man who knows no fear.

He's famous for his Raiders, the facts you all should know;

How he led a band of brave marines --- On the Road to Tokio.

When Carlson was a young man, he roamed the world around

And while in far-off China, a secret there he found

From the Chinese Eighth Route Army, he learned the word "Gung-ho"

And now this word is spoken on the Road to Tokio.

He helped the Eighth Route Soldiers and ministered to their needs

And wondred in amazement at the bravery of their deeds

Their courage it was unequaled, their watchword was "Gung-ho"

As they fought the mad invaders, the hordes from Tokio.

The Secret of this Army's strength our hero soon did learn

He brought his knowledge home and caused the Brass Hats great concern

He praised the Eighth Route Army and he let the whole world know

They were China's bravest fighters in the War with Tokio

Soon the Brass Hats come to see the folly of their ways

They needed Colonel Carlson in those mad Pearl Harbor days

For the foe of the Eighth Route Army had become our country's foe

And they called on him to lead the way, on the Road to Tokio

A thousand men did Carlson choose and he picked them one by one

With the raid on Mokin Island, their job it had begun

They killed 400 Japanese -- they struck a fearful blow

And the Raiders lost but thirty men, on the Road to Tokio

'Twas just before the break of dawn that they put their boats to sea

And rowed ashore in a roaring tide to meet the enemy

The landing was successful, indeed they saw no foe

Then all at once, hell broke loose on the Road to Tokio

Among the Raiders there was one from a famous family

It was young Colonel Roosevelt and greatly loved was he

Where fighting was the heaviest, that's where he chose to go

Though well he knew the dangers on the Road to Tokio

Now of the usual social rank, there wasn't any trace

You couldn't tell an officer unless you knew his face

They ate the same and they wore the same, for Carlson had it so

The officers fought beside their men, on the Road to Tokio

It's this they say of Carlson -- how he calmly strolled around

Smoked his pipe and snapped his galluses with bullets raining down

And shouted "Ahoy, you Raiders!" -- they answered back "Gung-ho!"

It became the Raiders watchword on the Road to Tokio

'Twas the seventeenth day of August in 1942

For forty hours the Raiders fought and saw the battle through

They left no Japanese alive -- they captured nary foe

They left those bastards bones to bleach, on the Road to Tokio

It's "Raiders, ahoy" -- "Hi, Raider", they go where the going's rough

Guadalcanal and Tarawa -- wherever the fighting's tough

For each knows what he's fighting for, that's what he had to know

Or he wouldn't be with Carlson on the Road to Tokio

And now my song is ended for I've told you all I know

There isn't any secret to this thing they call "Gung-ho"

How to work and fight together -- that's what we've got to know

If we want to go with Carlson on the Road to Tokio