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Little Boys That Churchill Forgot
by
Norman “Yagi” Colley
(Fepow - Kobe House, Japan)
On Christmas Day of `41´, Hong Kong had just packed in,
We´d fought a long battle and we knew we couldn´t win,
The odds were all against us, from the land, the sea and air,
And in this festive season, all the lads were in despair.
They´d fought for eighteen weary days, with little food or rest,
And though these lads were beaten, Evewry-one had done their best.
They marched in from thir outposts, a tired unhappy throng,
And from this band of heroes, you could hear this plaintive song:-
We´re the little boys that Churchill forgot,
And goodness knows, we didn´t ask alot.
We sent a note to Winnie for some planes and guns and ships,
He said: “You´ll never need them” but we didn´t know the Nips,
And instead of sending first-class infantry,
He sent some half-trained backwoodsmen you see.
And though those lads were plucky,
They weren´t so very lucky,
They were with the little boys that Churchill had forgot.
We tried to hold the Mainland for a start,
But it would break a poor soldier´s heart,
Before this war began, the R.E.´s had their little fling,
And so those walls of concrete wouldn´t stop a bloody thing.
They fed us lots and lots of phoney news,
They sent us hand-grenades without a fuse,
And General Maltby´s order, was Chiang Kai Shek´s on the Border,
To help the little boys that Churchill forgot.
The Hotel Bars were doing lots of trade,
The Officers were ther upon Parade,
They´ planned out every movement for this great campaign,
But the only shots they had was whisky on champagne.
They said “We´ll have one more then attack”
But saw the aeroplanes and doubled back,
And the only time they led us, Was when someone fed us.
You poor little boys that Churchill forgot.
We paid our price as losers in a camp at Shanshuipo,
They found they couldn´t feed us so they said “You´ll have to go”.
They put us in a `Hell Ship´, we were bound for Nippon´s shore,
But Uncle Sam thought different and tat ships a ship no more,
He hit us with a tin fish, and as we began to sink,
You could hear the boys all shout as they dived into the drink:-
We´re the little boys that Churchill forgot,
And just you stop and look at what we´ve got:
There´s lots and lots of Ocean and very little land,
There´s great big pointed, jagged rocks and very little sand;
And as the boys swam bravely for the shore,
The ones still left aboard began to roar:-
If you get back to Blighty, tell England´s High and Mighty,
We´re the little boys that everyone forgot.
And now we´re living in Kobe Town.
We´ve lots and lots of work and very little pay,
We´ve got “Takusan Shigoto” and not any time for play.
The food we get is not so very good,
It´s mostly Rice and Stones and bits of wood,
And when we get some “Spam”, it comes from Uncle Sam,
So we´re still the boys that Churchill forgot.
But soon that day will come when this is through,
Then all the dreams we´ve dreamed will all come true.
They´ll put us on a big ship,
You´ll have tons of food and beer,
They´ll send us home to England for the crowds to clap and cheer,
And when that boat pulls along the quay,
The bands will play a Tune of Victory,
And even Georgie from his throne,
Will shout out “Welcome Home”
To the little boys that Churchill had forgot.
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