A Faraway Land

 

We stood on guard in a faraway land

Of mountains, ice and dark black sand

We searched the skies both day and night

Looking from the ground to enormous heights

 

Far from friends, relatives and family

We did our duty being brave and manly

From the days when there was no sun

And the days when the stars away did run

 

Many were the friends we did make

And many memories we did take

In the beautiful and desolate land of fire and ice

Where we all made our personal sacrifice

 

The Russians planes they did come

And our radars continued to hum

Tracking them both day and night

When they tried to stay out of sight

 

Far from those we protected from the fight

While our interceptors away took flight

Our power house and cooks did keep us fed

As we looked for that bomber from the Reds

 

We searched both high and low

No matter how hard the winds did blow

Volcanoes, glaciers, ice and snow

At us the Iceland winds did throw

 

Then one night as year’s end drew near

What on our radar scopes should appear

But a strange new track, with a distinct northern veer

Closer it approached, its mission still unclear

 

Was this some new Russian Bear bomber trick?

Its mission became clear when the radio did click

And the voice said “I am jolly old St. Nick

I come to wish you a very merry Christmas and a peaceful night”

Were his words as he drifted out of sight.

 

Now we gather to memories preserve

Of all of those of us who once did serve

To let those who might never know

And let their knowledge of history grow.