Song information On this page you can find the lyrics of the song Waltz for George, artist - Public Service Broadcasting.
Date of issue: 27.05.2012
Song language: English
Waltz for George |
For days and nights, ships of all kinds have flied to and fro across the |
channel under the fierce onslaught of the enemy’s bombers |
Utterly regardless of the perils, to bring out as many as possible of the |
trapped BEF |
There was every kind of ship that I saw coming in this morning |
And every one of them was crammed full of tired, battlestained and bloodstained |
British soldiers |
Soon after dawn this morning, I watched a warship steaming in |
One that listed heavily to port under the enormous load of men she carried on |
her decks |
Transport officers counted the men as they came ashore |
No question of units |
No question of regiments |
No question of even nationality |
For there were French and Belgian soldiers who fought side by side with the |
British at the battle of Flanders |
All of them were tired |
Some were completely exhausted |
Another man, with eyes heavy with sleep, who limped along on painful feet |
because his boots hadn’t been off for five days |
And at his bag, a ukulele dangled from his haversack |
But he still had enough kick in him to ask the sergeant for a seat facing the |
engine when he got to the train |
Another man told me about how he’d been on the beach in Dunkirk for three days |
with hundreds of his comrades waiting for a boat |
Embarkation was often difficult because of fear of being bombed and the ships |
could not get close enough in |
So they joined the ships in boats |
And paddled in the water some of the way |
As each ship came in the army doctors at the port would shout out to the |
captain on the bridge to ask for the number of wounded |
And in a few minutes the ambulances and the stretchers would be alongside to |
bring them off and take them to the waiting hospital trains in the station |
The organisation of the port was excellent |
The ships were being unloaded at an astonishing speed |
On the station, I watched the men climb onto the long waiting trains |
It was astonishing to walk along carriage after carriage full of soldiers, |
and to find in each one, silence |
And so the men of the BEF came home |