Notebook of Harry Raymond Green -Sep 1941- Apr - 1943 - Part 5

21 He could hypnotize old "Togo"
Put his army in a trance
Then the Glamour Division
Would have another chance.
The End
She was a Maiden Young & Fair.
1 She was a maiden young & fair
Who listed in Society
He was a soldier brave and bold
Who stole the girls vicinity.
2 He took her to a dance one night
And then he took her for a walk
He took her out into the snow
And left her laying in the cold.
3 Her father came home one night
To find his house without a light
He went up stairs to go to bed
A sudden thought entered his head.
4 He went into his daughters room
And found her hanging by a rope

He got a knife and cut her down
And on her breast was pinned a note.
5 I wish my baby had been born
Then all my troubles would be gone
So dig my grave and dig it deep
And (please) place white lillies at my feet.
6 Oh! Father, father dig my grave
Dig it beneath the garden gate
And place white lillies at my feet
To show the world I died for peace.
7 Now all fair maidens bair in mind
A soldiers heart is hard to find
So if you find one good & true
Don't change the old love for the new.
The End.
The Happy Soldier.
1 Got no matches, got no dough
Got no leave, no place to go
If I'd have taken my wifes advice
I wouldn't be here existing on rice.

2 In the Army, but where's the war
Is this what God made soldiers for
Chased all day by silly mugs
Chased all night by rotten bugs
3 Can't get sick, I'll miss my pay
Can't miss that ten cents a day
Can't give lip, for if I do
It only mean extra days to do
4 Can't get bread at our canteen
Weirdest joint I've ever seen
Latest news from the B.B.C.
Doesn't sound to hot to me.
5 If only I can get back there
I'll never winge again I swear
I'll help wash up & chop the wood
I'll do the things a husband should.
6 And if another War should start
And I'm called on to do my part
I'll fall again just like a dill
I will, (bu) like b— hell I will
The End

To my Sweet Aussie Girl.
1 Its only a two by two photo
Encased in a small leather frame
And its not of world renowned heroes
Or of any allied name.
2 But just the sweetheart of a digger
Who heeded his countrys call
And went forth to do his duty 
Leaving his love one and all.
3 And the face in the tiny photo
Of that sweet Australian Girl
Means more for that far off digger
Than anything else in the world.
4 And when he opens that photo
To gaze at his darlings face
He knows he would give his life gladly
To save it from disgrace.
5 For as he gazes on it
He hears her once more say
I know I can trust my laddie
And each night for you I pray.

6 And with a sigh, the spell is over
The photo back in it's frame
And he says, as he kisses it gently
Yes Dear, "I'll Play The Game.
The End.
A Toast.
1 In a dainty cape of scarlet

With a cloak of matching grey

A Gentle hand a patient heart

Makes light our painfull way.

2 A breath of home amongst us

Symbolic of all thats dear

Pervades us with presence

Brings brightness health & cheer.

3 So heres a toast our darling

And may it all prove true

May your days be full of gladness

Fresh as the morning dew.

4 May she never shed a tear lads

May she never hear a curse

We’ll praise her to the world lad

Our Australian Army Nurse.

The End.

The Song Of The Gunner.

1 Rabbits by day and owls by night

Our life is quiet exciting

We eat tined horse & concrete slabs

It’s all that keeps us fighting.

2 All day we live in blady grass

And when it gets to boring

We fire a couple of rounds or so

To keep ourselves from snoring

3 A couple of rounds of 119

The Japs can have with pleasure

And perhaps some rounds of 117

To give the cows good measure.

4 I wish there were a shell that would cross

Four thousand miles of ocean

I’d be the first to volunteer

To set the thing into motion.

5 Slinging myself into the breech

I’d leave my cares behind me

And if lobbed in Sydney town

I promise they never would find me.

The End.

The (dieing) ^Dieing Digger.

1 The noise of the battle was so hellish

With shells whistling round thick & fast

With bullets mixed in, going out, coming in

And a plane laying eggs in the blast.

2 A sunburnt soldier lay dieing

And as he fretted there midst the row

A comrade so kind with tears, almost blind

Gently fondled the young hero's brow.

3 He asked him if to his relations

Could any last word be expressed

To which he replied with eyes opened wide

And his head on his old playmates breast.

4 Give my best love to my sweetheart

To my brothers, sisters and mother

Tell the nation at home how we over the foam

Have them in our hearts and no others.

5 Don't let them forget their last soldier boys

So gallant, so brave and so true

Then hats off, I say, to the dead of to-day

To the boys who died for them, too

6 He paused for his breath and shuddered

The exertion of speech was to great

The spell that had burst, for him did it's worst

7 Had its name written on it, his fate

He smiled once again, brave, unhurried

Though his suffering was then at it's peak

His blood and his sweat was mixed with the wet

8 Of the tears trickling down his mates cheeks

Good-bye and good luck to you, digger

This he managed to whisper at last

And there in the sand where he made his last ^stand

9 The noise petered out life was past

With the soft gentle care of a women

His comrades then laid him to rest

For those gallant sons who fight Jap & Hun

10 Are Aussies best sons - yes the best

Now I'll make a pled, maybe futile

To the men back home across the sea

Put on your slouch hat, pick up your gat

Come & fight with the diggers, like he

They'll be proud of you, pride that is mighty

And you'll fight in the ranks of the free

Join the army, both towny & farmy

And keep the foe far across the sea.

The End.

While the Sands Ran Out.

1 It was an Aussie that lay dieing

On the battle field of Crete

In a Khaki Army jacket

Through the burning Glowing heat.

2 And though he knew he was going

To a place he'd heard about

He just lay there a thinking

While the sands were running out

3 Of what was he a thinking

There's no one can tell

Was he thinking of a country

That he had loved so well.

4 Of its glorious fighting Army

That had blazed it's way through hell

And its brave and daring soldiers

Who had played the game so well.

5 Or was he quietly thinking

Of the folks he'd left behind

Who had known him and loved him

When he had been their kind.

6 Till the day when still a civvy

He heard a bugle call ring out

Was that what he was thinking

While the sands were running out.

7 Or was he thinking of the men folk

That he'd known so well at work

Would they help his fighting country

Or stop at home and shirk.

8 Would they get a Khaki jacket

And a pair of Army boots

Would they get themselves a Kit bag

To hold those Khaki suits.

9 So to the young Australian man hood

Are you going to play the game

Will you help your fighting country

Walk arm and arm in fame.

10 Will you wear a khaki jacket

And help the Aussies out

Thats what I think he was thinking

While the sands were running out.

11 And there in the roaring battle field of death

To be buried in a nameless grave

A dieing Aussie drew his last long breath

For what he had tried to save.

12 So he lay on his side & smiled again

He knew what it was all about

He felt no more the burning pain

For the sands had at last run out.

The End 

Happy Joe.

1 Across the rubber ridges

Sneaking through the drain

The bite of Bukit Timah

Comes striding home again

2 His pockets buldge with "Roko's"

And belly makan to

For "Joe" has struck a squatter

A Briton through and through.

3 He nears the prison kampong

His face is lit with smiles

For once again old "Roko Joe"

Has beaten Nippons wiles.

4 They've strung the camp with wire

They think there's no (exc) escape

But Joe's to flaming cunning

For the yellow nippon ape.

5 At Bukit Timah quarry

A maiden waites in vain

For "Joe" is down with tinea

No more He'll roam again.

6 But spite of all reverses

He's still the bite of old

In spite of "Batesies" curses

Yells "Roko Joe" I'm told.

7 He's on the bank at sunset

His heart is full of bliss

He doesn't see an officer

Indulging in a Kiss.

8 And presently a chow comes by

He's on his way to town

He answers "No" to "Rokos" cry

Poor Joe! He turned him down.

9 Old Batesie put his girl away

And chipped him with a frown

He said, your at your tricks again

Of biting "Rokos" Joe.

10 They say he --- on his mates

But this is far from true

If you could get what Roko does

Well, you' would be --- to.

The End. 

A Mothers Prayer.

1 A lady old and feeble

Each night in a far of land

Kneels and prays for her wayward son

Who is far across the foam.

2 At her lonely bed she kneels

And breathes a silent prayer

Oh! God proctect my soldier son

And keep him in good care.

3 He may not lift his eyes to you

From the narrow path he treds

But may loving God hear my plea

And send him safe back home to me.

4 He was so pleased when he joined up

To fight against the foe

But each night she said the same old prayer

Please God don't let him go.

5 So when things don't look to bright

And you are feeling blue

Just give a thought for Dear old Mum

And keep her proud of you.

6 For you only have one mother boys

And she prays to God above

That one day he will return to her

Your undieing love.

The End.

Bukit Timah Lament.

1 Heres a new ode to Nippon

And things that are pleasing & nice

But what are the Nippon ZIN doing

But filling our stomachs with rice.

2 He's forced us to sweat and to labour

And we're toiling against our will

The reward of defeat we are getting

Is digging the top off a hill.

3 We're chasing and eating Boong Tucker

Which we dont enjoy very much

We're watching old Nippon Gloating

As the boys get tinea in the ---.

4 We pool all our troubles and worries

And do our best not to shirk

And then watch old snow white chuckle

As he tips out our rice in the dirt.

5 Our equipment He's scraping and wrecking

And carting it down to the wharf

But really the joke is on our side

For he can't shift it off the wharf.

6 We put in ten cents each pay day

To try and improve on our tucker

And old Nippon just gleefully gloating

Refuses to lend us a truck.

7 He boasts and struts like a peacock

As the "Bullo" to us he does dish

Then old togo well mannerly sneering

Dole's out to us bags of crook fish.

8 We hear grunts and jokes by the dozen

And news that is awfully nice

But we stroll home tired in the evening

And fill up our dixes ^Dishes with rice.

9 Some of us have no beds or blankets

And are using our rain capes as rugs

And to add to the blasted discomfort

We wake up crawling with bugs.

10 I suppose this poem is boring

And the language not really nice

But what else can be expected

When a man has to fill up on rice

11 You can see by my verse, I hate Nippon

The slant eyed twirp I despire

But when their time comes to go under

The Nippon Zin - He dies.

The End.

Making The Best Of It.

1 We have left our dear old Australia

Our homes and families

Because an ape called Hitler

Threatened our liberties.

2 Yes we left our dear old home - land

On a lovely July Day

Sailed across the Indian ocean

And landed in Malay.

3 We were camped down in the middle

Of a lot of rubber trees

All around in the jungle

Are the monkeys and the bees.

4 We are really quiet contented

That is in the diggers way

Each night we drink a Tiger beer

Each fortnight draw our pay.

5 And if we wish to try our luck 

To help increase our dough

We wander to the two up school

And give the coins a throw.

6 At night we sleep on real rope beds

With sheets as white as snow

And when we tuck each other in

Our thoughts run to & fro.

7 Yes they roam back to Australia

And our dear one's we can see

Our wives, mothers and sweethearts

We're as happy as can be.

8 And just as we have told them

We never more will stray

We hear a call "Revialle Boys"

And wake up in Malay.

9 I'm thinking to-night of a brave little ^girl

And I know she is thinking of me

We long for the day we'll be on our way

To a meeting at Circular Quay.

The End.

Malaya. II

1 There's Tiger Beer & Anchor

The two most popular makes

We drink perhaps three bottles

And the next morning we see snakes

2 Then we have the taxi dancers

Who glide around the floor

A dollar four, for tickets

None wonder we are poor.

3 We do not like the country

But what really makes us hot

Is to land back in old Aussie

Without having fired a shot.

4 And at the next dawn service

While we stand in the domain

Paying tribute to our comrades

Who did die ^not in vain.

5 What off the eighth division

You'll hear the people say

Wy Why they ^are the front line soldiers

The tourist from Malaya.

The End.