chorus
chorus
upon my chest, a black iron cross it's the crest of the iron brigade;
 we fight vc all day and night;
 we' re fighting men of the big red one
our leader is hocking 6 his hocking heart pounds out the beat;
 members of the 3rd brigade, the best, by damn, in the big red one.
our motto is 'for duty first' ;
 through days of hunger, heat and thirst;
 we fight for freedom for all men;
 the iron brigade of the big red one.
we fly our banner in lai khe;
 our hocking 6 is a man with wings;
 the vc will rue the day the tangle with the iron brigade
iron brigade cont' d
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161 recce flights tape of the 'merrymen'.
supplied by tub mathieson.
 big red one = us army 1st infantry division (if you've gotta be one, you might as well be a big, red one!) 3rd brigade of the 1st infantry division has been known as the iron brigade since american civil war days, recruited from the area of wisconsin, michigan, minnesota, and had a large number of recruits from scandanavian countries.
 their scandanavian ancestry of 100 years before! can be seen in the vietnam war use of the anglo-sacandanavian expression 'by damn' --100 years!!! after its incorporation in brigade traditions from foreign recruits!!!!! during the civil war, as now, their identifying crest is the imperial german maltese- iron-cross--which is also the german military decoration of the same name.