FRANK'S SONG

The man I'm singing about in this song, my brother-in law, STAFF SERGEANT WESLEY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, UNITED STATES ARMY (RETIRED), passed away from pneumonia at 1735 Hours on Saturday 24 October 2009 at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

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"FRANK'S SONG"

Words and Music by:
JOHN ROBERT "SAIGON" MALLERNEE
Tuesday 12 May 1992

VERSE # 1:
In the U.S. Army twenty years,
Fought the Viet Nam War
And its tears;
Retired, looking for a better life.
Put a mobile home on a piece of land
With pine trees and a lot of sand;
Settled down to raising
Young'uns with his wife.

CHORUS:
The wind blows through Carolina pines
Where the muddy Cape Fear River winds.
A barefoot singer strums on his guitar.
Chicken, biscuits, black eyed peas,
Country living as you please,
Tar Heel folks are proud of who they are.

VERSE # 2:
Rebel flag and a pickup truck,
A little grit
And a lot of luck,
Retired, but he works to make ends meet.
With a tractor, rifle, and shotgun,
A fishing rod and the Southern sun,
A Tar Heel family has their living sweet.

VERSE # 3:
There's a country church
A mile away
Where the family sometimes
Goes to pray.
In the distance, you can hear a railroad train.
Watermelons in the garden plot,
A dog and cat and all that rot
Bought with twenty years
Of Army pain.