My friend Chick Eastman, God rest his soul, used to have my family up to his house in the mountains every few weekends. It was drinking, shooting, eating, and bullshitting of the highest order. It was during those weekends that I learned the fine arts of blowing things up, creating mayhem and improvised explosives, rappelling, fencing--and the even trickier bits of living like duty, honor, respect, and self-sacrifice. He also fed my craving for the written word with his incredible library of books and old magazines.

Those weekends were formative in a way that I never could have imagined.

Now, way back in some part of my head, I remember him drunkenly warbling the song “Gory, Gory, What a Hell of a Way to Die.” Sung to the tune of ”Battle Hymn of the Republic,” it told the story of a young troop during his first jump. Unfortunately, the ‘chute failed to open and the result was messy has hell.

Gory, indeed.

Anyway, here’s the thing: I don’t actually remember the song. I only remember little snippets of the thing. I’d like to use it in something that I’m writing, so if anyone can help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.