Lyrics I Was Only 19 - John Schumann

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal
It was long march from cadets
The Sixth Battalion was the next to tour
It was me who drew the card
We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left

And Townsville lined the footpaths
As we marched down to the quay
This clipping from the paper
Shows us young and strong and clean
And there's me in my slouch hat
With my SLR and greens
God help me
I was only nineteen

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months
And we made our tents a home, VB and pin-ups on the lockers
And an Asian orange sunset through the scrub

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
What's this rash that comes and goes
Can you tell me what it means?
God help me
I was only nineteen

And a four week operation
When each step could mean your last one on two legs
It was a war within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down
'Til they had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and you thought about something else

Then someone yelled out "Contact, front"
And the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours, then a God-almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon
God help me, he was going home in June

I can still see Frankie drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a thirty-six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie lying screaming in the jungle
'Til the morphine came and killed the bloody row

And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
God help me
I was only nineteen

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes
Can you tell me what it means?
God help me
I was only nineteen