CHRISTMAS OF FORTY-FOUR

Christmas is both time and place.
It is both when and where,
Not just why and how,
With music in the air!

Will you come back with me
To Christmas of forty-four?
The very last Christmas of the war,
When all of us were boys no more.

From Saipan and Tinian
Come the sounds of thunder,
Of three-hundred B-29's,
Belching smoke by the number.

Doesn't sound like "Silent Night",
Or the site of mistletoe,
With sleigh-bells ringing
In the scene of falling snow!

No warm hugs of loved ones
Sitting round an open hearth,
And no angelic beings
Singing of Peace on Earth!

How can we sing
Of Peace on Earth,
With the coming of a Savior,
And the miracle of His birth?

Remembering days gone by
When there were no 29's in the sky;
Those other days with Big Band Sounds
As carolers make their rounds!

You remember that special girl,
Dressed in both red and green,
With that sparkle in her eyes,
A sparkle you had never seen!

But where is she tonight,
This Christmas of forty-four;
No longer dress of green and red,
But a heavy flak-suit instead?

No music do I hear,
Falling softly on my ear;
But the sound of 300 29's
Leaving runways, line on line!

When this night is through
And the ships return to Saipan,
Why are ground crews looking west,
For the return of all the rest?

Could it be that Peace on Earth,
Has finally come to a few,
Who, Christmas of forty-four,
Has finally given rest?

Deck the hardstands with holly,
'Tis the season to be jolly!
Count the planes who return no more,
At Christmastime in forty-four!