Those songs have saved many a man from nervous exhaustion, they have cheered the wounded, they have been heard by the dying wherever the British Army has grappled the foe, and they have inspired the mildest mannered man with courage abnormal.
Who would not go "over the top" with men who could sing "I Want to Go Home" as they crouched for the charge across No Man's Land. Who would not fight like knights of old when comrades could sing in face of the foe, "Keep your head down, Alleman'."
America's sons in Flanders will fight all the better when they learn the songs which Britain's sons have sung from Ypres to Gallipoli, in Macedonia and Mesopotamia, India and Egypt; on sinking transports at sea, and in shell-torn trenches on land.
He who sings well will fight well. Perhaps the songs of Uncle Sam's soldiers will be most heard of when the Allies make their final drive, but the simple songs and parodies of the British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African soldier have re-echoed round the world since "Tipperary" took fearless men to heroes' graves in 1914.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] M.P.—Military Police.
BITS OF WAR