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A poem that was writen on brown paperbags,

This poem was written by George X. Hurley
It is just one of the items you get when you purchase the book "No Surrender"
advertised on the Armed Guard Web Site.

Saga of the Murmansk Run
(Originally written on paper bags in 1943)
by George X. Hurley

Liberty ships are rusty and slow
But where they sail, I must go
Scarred old derelicts, sweet piles of junk
I walked your deck, slept in your bunk

I felt like a bird in a steel nest
To me you were a home, I loved you best
Things I learned while still on shore
Was Liberty Ships were winning the war

No finer ship ever sailed the blue
Than a Liberty Ship with it's Armed Guard crew
There is no glory delivering by the ton
So just enjoy it, have your fun

England was tough, we all agree
Tanks in a storm, they all broke free
Then a collision, we all should be dead
Ammunition stored safe in its bed.

I am a sailor, a Liberty Man
I do my best, the best I can
I will protect you from all in the air
You're all we have, we really care

But now it's different, I don't feel well
We're going to Russia ;the Gateway to Hell''
I know we can make it, I will return
Minus the bow, probably the stern

Scotland was great, kilts are my style
Forming our convoy takes quite awhile
Escorts are ready, prancing ahead
Don't leave us behind, we all will be dead

First day out, I'm chilled to the bone
Even in convoy you just feel alone
Cooks are like witches making your brew
Gallons of coffee just for the crew

Coffee, oh coffee, drink all you take
Black and steaming to keep you awake
Depth charges dropping most every night
Keeping the submarines deep out of sight

Every few hours alarms seem to screech
Run to your guns, close up the breech
Twenty millimeters ready for hell
;Come on you bastards; That is your yell

One ship explodes just down the line
Up goes a tanker two ships behind
Sea's all afire, kissing some ships
I heard a scream, was it my lips?

German planes came making their run
Earning their cross in the arctic sun
God be my judge I'll never tell
How often I softened on the "Gateway to Hell''

J.U. 88 you won't hear us beg
Be careful of us, we want your egg
Shrapnel, like rain, falls on our deck
I've had this trip up to my neck

Where is my jacket, my rubber suit?
No one will answer, they're all scared mute
"Wake up you dummies, I will survive''
I'll leave this ship free and alive

Powder and smoke, low flying planes
This was a day just made for dying
Heroes so many they can't be counted
Here they come! Another attack mounted

Death you seem so friendly a hand
Torturing the souls of this tired band
No one can ever describe this story
Of these fighting men, men without glory

Ice and the cold, you too are our foe
Taking your toll, laying us low
Someday with pride say to your son
"Your father survived the Murmansk run''

A separate war fought by a few
Merchant seamen, an Armed Guard Crew
British Navy fighting with pride
Out in the Arctic, no place to hide

Ducks in a pond, I know how you feel
Waiting for death, this is for real
No movie, no newsreel, no happy end
Death sits and waits just down the bend

I'm saying my prayers, my gun is so hot
Don't say I'm scared, I know that I'm not
All of my fear is now just a rage
I'll make some history, if only one page

Stand by your gun, there's no place to hide
Fight like a tiger, where is your pride?
Let them all know we must be free
England can crow but we rule the sea

My officers babbling "Change the barrel, son''
Why am I smiling? This isn't fun
"Sorry, Sir, I respect all your freight
The barrel's in the tube, froze very tight''

Old Joe, the boatswain, picking up the shells
Mike the Messman hit and he yells
All brave men fighting as one
Giving their all 'til the battle is won

Look to our Captain, he never broke
Giving his orders in all of the smoke
Chain of sailors, some on the bridge
Passing the shells in this cold fridge

Planes like bees searching for honey
It is so bright but it's not sunny
If we had fog we'd prolong our doom
Don't get downhearted, we don't need gloom

Life or death is only a thread
Speak to a shipmate, then he's dead
Ocean's just a graveyard of sorrow
The tonic is hope, a wish for tomorrow

Rosary beads are my frozen tears
Will they thaw in future years?
Valor so common not recorded in history
Ships just vanish, a Russian mystery

Ships keep moving, Pied Piper calling
Bringing aid to dictator Stalin
Young blood and some so old
Will their story ever be told?

Who were these men? Someone's son
There is no glory on the Murmansk Run
Men so brave slaughtered like cattle
Don't ever mention this Russian battle

Bodies like chocolates dipped in black oil
Your journey is over, free from toil
Blinking red lights, not summer fireflies
Everything's quiet now, no more cries

Give no quarter, fight till the end
No surrender, iron men don't bend
If I survive and again reach shore
I'll never knock at this Russian door

My feet are so cold but this gun is manned
Body is aching, I can't feel my hand
But my twenty millimeter is working fine
We'll keep firing till the end of time

No life boat for me, I die where I stand
Like an icicle, shiny and grand
The Arctic is neutral, it takes no side
All dressed in white, waiting for its bride

We are so cold but we will deliver
Even polar bears are cold and they shiver
Why God made this place I'll never know
Keep all your ice, send it below

Temperatures so cold it cast a spell
No one can live in the devil's well
Slowly more bodies in clusters float by
Eyes frozen in sockets turned to the sky

Twelve submarines circling the foe
Where is the heaven sailors go?
Another destroyer torpedoed twice
Luck just ran out like the roll of the dice

Now comes the fog, can we hide?
Keep your position on this suicide ride
Coffee please, till the battle is done
How will we tell who lost or who won?

But the planes see our mast
Dropping bombs in another pass
More ships hit, more men die
I only looked, too cold to cry

Dear friend, Jesus, to You I call
Help your lambs before we fall
I can't promise I'll be good tomorrow
But the Bible says you watch the sparrow

If I should die in some ship's wake
Don't tell St. Peter, give me a break
Just try and judge good intentions
My black deeds, don't even mention

Churchill said "We have no ships''
Roosevelt said "Ours are on the Pacific trips''
Stalin boasted "I fight all alone
Deliver the goods and go back home

The Kola Inlet is bleak
German planes have access to the air
Air raid shelter is hit, where are you God?
Hundreds buried under Russian sod

No place a haven, only a death trap
They try to bomb it right off the map
No buildings are standing, everything's down
Pocked by craters, there is no town

No water, no lights, no scraps of food
All is depression, death is the mood
Bodies all over killed by some hand
No one gets buried in this frozen land

A pretty asked me, "Do you have some bread?"
She told me her mother and sister were dead
I gave her my sandwich and an old candy bar
I looked to the sky, God was so far

Everyone runs at Stalin's call
But this is a war hurting us all
Who is this man, butcher of men?
Hitler or Stalin, who is our friend?

I won't forget till I'm peaceful and dead
I carry these scars deep in my head
Life will go on but I'll never lose sight
Of freezing peasants, starving but right

They're forming a convoy, we're going back
No one can sleep, not time for the sack
Submarines lurk to kiss us good-bye
Drop all your depth charges, let them fly

Alarms, alarms, you're always ringing
Sounds like a devil chorus singing
But I could care less, gone is all fear
Stumbling to my gun with all this gear

Ghost of ships carrying young men
They'll never be seen in this world again
If weather and ice don't sink your ship
Submarines and planes will finish your trip

Nothing more cruel was ever done to man
Send you to hell on a rusty tin can
God will forgive, that's a sure bet
I may forgive, but I won't forget

Frozen toes, fingers that pain
Cheeks that you rub, seems all in vain
Wind like a knife cuts through your clothes
it's part of learning, I suppose

Where is everyone? Have they left too?
Am I alone in this cold stew?
Cool off your barrel, hey, wait a minute
Here comes a plane, we're right back in it

Down goes the plane, whining in flames
Cursing us all, who is the blame?
No iron cross, pilot so brave
Only reward is a watery grave

Step out on deck, breathe that cold air
Lift up your heart, who's left to care?
Submarines below, planes up on high
All I can say "It's a good day to die''

We're the warriors, like Roman Legionnaires
Like great Sioux Chiefs, men without fear
Armed Guard sailors such as I
Showed all the world just how to die

What would life be under Germany's heel?
Concentration camps, bars of steel
So no surrender, fire to the sky
We'll leave as free men if we say good-bye

No one is talking, I hear no voices
Am I spared? Has God made his choices?
Why did he leave me, I'll never know
But it looks to me like the end of the show

No one relieves me, I stand by my gun
Looks like it's over, who really won
I'll never go back, just hear me tell
Close to the door to the gateway to hell

Sailors are dead, frozen and stiff
Lifeboats with bodies floating adrift
Smoke in your eyes, can't hardly see
But I made my payment to keep us free

Please more coffee, I can't go below
Not for a moment, they won't stop the show
Each day we're closer, Scotland is home
Where are the escorts? Are we alone?

"Silence is golden'' my mother once said
It's really quiet, is everyone dead?
But we're still moving, still afloat
Our only damage, a shattered lifeboat

Peel off your clothes, they stick to your skin
We get a shower, I guess we win
Shave off your beard, put on something nice
Clothes thrown overboard, covered with Lice

Dear old Scotland, open your gate
For many sailors it opened too late
I feel this surge, I made it back
Frozen and tired, my brain's out of whack

A drink with a lass with skin so fair
No war stories, she doesn't care
We never existed, the Navy won't tell
All those ships on the bottom, in hell

Drink a toast to the bastardly sons
Don't mention the battle we surely won
God took a vacation, left us alone
Out in the ocean, so white with foam

Pretend we're not there, we'll go away
Carrying a suitcase, holding our pay
Marines guard the street, singing their hymn
But we guard the gates, we let you in

Oh we cursed you, old ship, you were so slow
But you took us there, where no one would go
Brought us back to the American shore
No one could ask for anything more

Today l'm a man, I'll curse and I'll drink
No longer afraid of torpedoes that sink
I have survived, I'm a better man
My gun is my arm, we made our stand

So much suffering, so many dying
So many shipmates died just for trying
All of their labor, all of the toil
All of the bodies covered with oil

I only lived with memories of home
As I watched the sky, frozen alone
With this door to my mind I could escape
Back to my childhood, away from this place

My mother at the table looking so fair
Serving the meal with face, oh so fair
My brothers and sisters, all in a dream
But then there's a noise off the port beam

When men go to sea and the stories are told
I'll only say that I was cold
Nights in the summer, heart all aquiver
Every so often I still will shiver

When there's a homer and people cheer
One thing haunts me forever, I fear
It sounds like the noise when people are dying
I still remember, but I stopped crying

So I'll go to my grave, at least on land
Don't ever tell me war was so grand
My mother, dear mother, didn't raise a son
To live or die on the Murmansk Run

The gateway to hell will never fade
There's not enough money could ever be paid
So old Joe Stalin, when you rot in the ground
Where was your help? Never around

Arctic winds blow, sea moves at night
This watery grave is still quite a sight
All the young men, so brave and so bold
Now, at least, they're warm from the cold

No man in his right mind should make this trip
For sure he'll come back, not with the ship
Mother, oh Mother, don't raise your son
To have to die on the Murmansk Run.

http://scotsatwar.co.uk/veteransreminiscences/doverhill.htm

-- Edited by altosaxx at 13:01, 2008-06-22