We Were Soldiers, Once...
David C Kifer
A book and now a movie, but was it a quote first? Seems like it should be,
but I can't find it.
--
Dave
"Tam multi libri, tam breve tempus!"
(Et brevis pecunia.) [Et breve spatium.]
Nathanael Thompson
<3C846F08...@sky-access.com>, David C Kifer posted this to a.q.:
>
>...And Young.
>
>A book and now a movie, but was it a quote first? Seems like it should be,
>but I can't find it.
Is this it?
"Here dead we lie because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young."
--A. E. Housman
-+-
Nate Thompson
"I'm so tired of hearing you whine
About the revolution
Bringin' down the rich
When was the last time you dug a ditch, baby!
You're just a middle class, socialist brat
--Oingo Boingo
"Capitalism" (1988)
V-Man
>>
>>A book and now a movie, but was it a quote first? Seems like it should be,
>>but I can't find it.
>
>Is this it?
>
>"Here dead we lie because we did not choose
>To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
>Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
>But young men think it is, and we were young."
>--A. E. Housman
>
"Go tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, that here obedient to their laws
we lie."
- Simonides, in Honor of the Spartan Defenders of Thermopylae
"Here did four thousand men from Pelops' land Against three hundred myriads
bravely stand."
- Comes to us from Herodotus,but it's from a monument left by the Persians
after the battle of Thermopylae honoring ALL defenders.
Wish you were here! V-Man
<*> A Knight is sworn to Valor, His Heart knows only Virtue
=/\= His Blade defends the Weak, His Word speaks only Truth
(-o-) His Wrath undoes the Wicked
Erica
be,> but I can't find it.
Couldn't help but be reminded of *Once were Warriors*.. by Kiwi, Alan Duff
(1990)..... and a film also (1995)
OBQ (sorry David - too tempting)
We all shave in my outfit --- reporters included.
~Moore to Galloway before the battle, in Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.)
and Joseph L. Galloway , We Were Soldiers Once.. and Young (1992)
Erica
__________________________
Frank Lynch
Thompson<amer...@VnewsVrangerV.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 05 Mar 2002 02:08:56 -0500, in article
><3C846F08...@sky-access.com>, David C Kifer posted this to a.q.:
>>
>>...And Young.
>>
>>A book and now a movie, but was it a quote first? Seems like it should be,
>>but I can't find it.
>
>Is this it?
>
>"Here dead we lie because we did not choose
>To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
>Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
>But young men think it is, and we were young."
>--A. E. Housman
>
Could well be... A determined net search led me here:
"We started off with the short list of about ten titles that we had
mulled over for months. One of them was simply, 'Soldiers Once.' The
title is from the last line of an A.E. Housman poem about dead young
soldiers. Then we thought we could use the whole damn line: 'We were
soldiers once and young.' It resonated."
-- co author Joe Galloway
http://www.vva.org/TheVeteran/2001_03/rendezvous.htm
Frank Lynch
The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page is at:
http://www.samueljohnson.com/
David C Kifer
Superb, Frank! That means the quote belongs to Galloway and Moore, though
inspired by Housman, unless there is another Housman poem on the same
subject with closer wording. I looked on the net, but I didn't get as far
as you did! BTW, that whole page you found this on is also excellent.
Thanks, to both you and Nate!
[p&e]
Frank Lynch
I dunno - - I'd have to see the whole poem (which I don't have...)
beofre concluding the authors came up with enough of the title to make
it theirs....
As for how I got to the page, I searched on the combination of one of
the author's names and +"title"
Nathanael Thompson
<< "Here dead lie we because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young."
--A. E. Housman
"Here Dead Lie We" (1914) >>
This question came up on another forum a few months ago. I've spent some time
searching for a Housman poem -- or any poem that contains variations of the line
"We were soldiers once and young"
You can watch Joseph Galloway talk about some of the events mentioned in the
book here:
fast connections:
http://realserver.bu.edu:8080/ramgen/a/v/av/dme/pershing1.rm
56k stream:
http://realserver.bu.edu:8080/ramgen/a/v/av/dme/pershing2.rm
(April 15, 2000 speech at Boston University)
-+-
Nate Thompson
"When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville."
--Flannery O'Conner
Sam Hobbs
<frank.lync...@verizon.net> wrote:
<snip>
>I dunno - - I'd have to see the whole poem (which I don't have...)
...
Frank, you have seen, if not the whole poem, at least half of it.
Housman's poems were NEARLY all short. Most fit on a single (and
fairly small) page. There were some exceptions, but this is not one of
them.
Sam
Obquote:
A bureaucrat should never be asked to make a decision.
--- Anon