Napalm Sticks To Kids
collectively written by Air Force and Army GIs
attached to the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam
Recited by Sgt. John Boychuk
We shoot the sick, the young, the lame
We do our best to kill and maim
Because the kills all count the same,
Napalm sticks to kids.
Flying low across the trees,
Pilots doing what they please
Dropping frags on refugees,
Napalm sticks to kids.
Flying low and looking mean,
See that family by the stream
Drop some nape and hear 'em scream
Napalm sticks to kids.
A group of gooks in the grass,
But all the fightin's long since past
Crispy youngsters in a mass
Napalm sticks to kids.
Drop some napalm on the barn
It won't do too much harm
Just burn off a leg or arm
Napalm sticks to kids.
CIA with guns for hire
Montagnards around a fire
Napalm makes the fire higher
Napalm sticks to kids.
A baby sucking on his his mother's tit
Children cowering in a pit
Dow Chemical doesn't give a shit
Napalm sticks to kids.
Eighteen kids in a "no fire zone"
Books under arms as they go home
Last in line goes home alone
Napalm sticks to kids.
Gather kids as you fly over own
By tossing candy on the ground
Then grease 'emwhen they gather round.
Napalm sticks to kids.
Ox cart rolling down the road
Peasants with a heavy load
They're all V.C. when the bombs explode
Napalm sticks to kids.
Cobras flying in the sun
Killing gooks is macho fun
If one's pregnant, it's two for one
Napalm sticks to kids.
There's a gook down on her knees
Launch some fleshettes into the breeze,
Her arms are nailed to the trees
Napalm sticks to kids.
Blues out on a road recon
See some children with their mom,
What the hell, let's drop the bomb.
Napalm sticks to kids.
They're in good shape for the shape they're in
But, God, I wonder how they can win
With napalm running down their skin
Napalm sticks to kids.
CIA with guns for hire,
Montagnards around a fire,
Napalm makes the fire higher,
Napalm sticks to kids.
A baby sucking on a mother's tit,
Children cowering in a pit,
Dow Chemical doesn't give a shit,
Napalm sticks to kids.
Eighteen kids in a no fire zone
Books on their arms as the go home
The last in line goes home alone
Napalm sticks to kids.
* Flechettes were small arrow-like projectiles (also called "nails")
contained in the warheads of 2.75 inch rockets delivered by rotary- and
fixed-wing aircraft. These flechettes would be delivered at high velocity and
dispersed over a large area when the warhead opened in its flight to the target.
They were effective against soft targets not protected by heavy vegetation.
A group of Air Force and Army GIs assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry sat down one night in a hootch in Vietnam to write these words. Each person made a verse about an incident in which he had taken part, and the poem expresses their collective bitterness toward the military that had turned them into murderers. They agreed they would not rest until somehow it was published.
One man, Sgt. Mike Elliot, returned from Vietnam to the Mountain Home Air Force Base, and the poem was published in Volume 1, Number 1 of the Covered Wagon Newspaper, Helping Hand. It has been reprinted in scores of GI newspapers all over the world, probably the most widely quoted poem to come from the GI movement.
Sergeant John Boychuk, who recites it here, is a veteran of Air Force activity in Vietnam. After joining the Wagon, John arranged for a three-week leave so that he could meet with his former "enemies" in Paris. He spent a week in conference with veterans of the war from Cambodia, Laos, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and North Vietnam. He is possibly the only active-duty GI to ever do so.