Dies to Removal

*ahem*
It was just before dawn one miserable morning in black '44
when the forward commander was told to sit tight when he asked that his men be withdrawn.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 off the enemy tanks for a while.
And the Enzio bridgehead was held with the price of a few hundred ord'nary lives.

Kind 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. I found it one day, an old photograph, hidden away, and my eyes still grow damp to remember His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp.

It was just before dawn
There was frost in the ground
When the Tigers broke free.
And no one survived from the royal fusillier's company C
They were all left behind
most of them dead,
the rest of them dying (dying);
and that's how the High Command took my daddy from me.