that old man was somethin of a hero 
from the war in coral sea
he shot down his share of zeroes 
long before he ever thought of me
sometimes he’d  tell us of his life   
stories of how things used to be
we would sometimes have to fill in the spaces 
‘cause he’d leave some stories incomplete

"he said, “i was born in southern texas"
not too far from rio grande
where i was known for swimming races   
& played the trumpet in the band
but when they bombed us at pearl harbor 
i went and lied  about my age
before i had gone there was a girl that i had known
but i never even knew her name”

he said “they sunk our ship out there at midway
i said a prayer as we went down
i still have  memories of that day 
‘cause most of all my  buddies drowned
on my   way off of that boat  
i heard some voices down below”
"he said, “you should know the only reason you’re here "
is cause in the end i had to let them go”

he said “when i got out of the navy 
i went home to a chance my fate
"i  thought i’d go to college,"
"maybe, ask that girl out on a date"
when i knocked upon her doorin her arms she held a babe
and i asked  if 
we could  have 100 more   
& we got   married on the 1st of may”

"that old man, he had a dozen young’uns "
we had a picture on the wall
i’ve never met all of my cousins  
but i know grandpa likes me best of all
when he was lying in that bed
i took his hand in mine
i could tell that by tomorrow he’d be dead    
but his mem’ry would stay forever mine

"yeah, that  old man he was a hero "
but not for what he did at sea
over 60 years he spent with that girl
they had my mom and she had me