It was just before dawn
  One miserable morning in black 'forty four.
  When the forward commander
  Was told to sit tight
  When he asked that his men be withdrawn.
  And the Generals gave thanks
  As the other ranks held back
  The enemy tanks for a while.
  And the Anzio bridgehead
  Was held for the price
  Of a few hundred ordinary lives.
    And old King George
  Sent Mother a note
  When he heard that father was gone.
  It was, I recall,
  In the form of a scroll,
  With gold leaf and all.
  And I found it one day
  In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
  And my eyes still grow damp to remember
  His Majesty signed
  With his own rubber stamp.
    It was dark all around.
  There was frost in the ground
  When the tigers broke free.
  And no one survived
  From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.
  They were all left behind,
  Most of them dead,
  The rest of them dying.
  And that's how the High Command
  Took my daddy from me.