Ballad Of The Fort Hood Three

Come all you brave Americans and listen unto me

If you can spare five minutes in this 20th century

I'll sing to you a story true as you will plainly see

It's about three US soldiers they call the Fort Hood Three

First, Pvt. Dennis Mora, he hails from New York town

A good student in Spanish Harlem, and a student a while at Brown

He cast his vote for Johnson in 1964

But let me quote his own words on the subject of this war

I call this a war of aggression, the whole world knows it's so

We're supporting a dictator who holds Hitler his hero

There is a war we ought to fight: It's the war on poverty

With jobs for all, no matter who, in this democracy

Next, Pvt. Jimmy Johnson, he comes from Harlem, too

He wanted to be a lawyer but left college before he was through

He had to bring his family income, worked as teller in a bank

Now listen to his own words and tell me what you think

I've spent a lot of time reading and discussing Vietnam

The government's not been honest in telling us about Saigon

Too long I followed blindly; I had to take a stand

The fight for freedom can be made right here in our own land

Next, Pvt. David Samas, a Californian

His background, Lithuanian, also Italian

The policemen told his father something quite absurd

They'd arrange for him a discharge if he'd just retract these words

We've been told in training that in Vietnam we must fight

And we may have to kill women and children, and that is quite all right

We say this war's illegal, immoral, and unjust

We're taking legal action, just the three of us

We'll report for duty but we won't go overseas

We're prepared to face court martial, but we won't fight for Ky

We three have talked it over, our decision now is clear

We will not go to Vietnam, we'll fight for freedom here

The army tried cajolery, and later on came threats

They were taken into custody, told jail was what they'd get

At the moment that I'm singing, the story's far from through

The next verses in the ballad may be partly up to you

Now if you don't believe me, you can read about it more

About the Fort Hood Three who have refused to fight this war

We can help them set our country straight on the right track again

When a man can hold his head with pride and say: I'm an American!