The War Was in Color

I see you've found a box of my things
 Infantries, tanks, and smoldering airplane wings
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 These old pictures are cool, tell me some stories
 Was it like the old war movies?
 Sit down, son, let me fill you in
 Where to begin? Let's start with the end
 This black and white photo don't capture the skin
 From the flash of a gun to a soldier who's done
 Trust me, grandson
 The war was in color
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 From shipyard to sea
 From factory to sky
 From rivet to rifle, from boot camp, to battle cry
 I wore the mask up high on a daylight run
 That held my face in its clammy hand
 Crawled over coconut logs and corpses in the coral sand
 Where to begin? Let's start with the end
 This black and white photo don't capture the skin
 From the shock of a shell or the memory of smell
 If red is for Hell
 The war was in color
 
 I held the canvas bag over the railing
 The dead released, with the ship still sailing
 Out of our hands and into the swallowing sea
 I felt the crossfire, stitching up soldiers
 Into a blanket of dead, and as the night grows colder
 In a window back home, a Blue Star is traded for Gold
 Oh, where to begin? Let's start with the end
 This black and white photo don't capture the skin
 When metal is churned, and bodies are burned
 Victory earned
 The war was in color
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 Now I lay in my grave at age 21
 Long before you were born
 Before I bore a son
 What good did it do?
 Well, hopefully, for you
 A world without war
 A life full of color
 Where to begin? Let's start with the end
 This black and white photo never captured my skin
 Once it was torn from an enemy thorn
 Straight through the core
 The war was in color
 Where to begin? Let's start with the end
 This black and white photo never captured my skin
 From the flash of a gun, to a solider who's done
 Trust me, grandson
 The war was in color
 Trust me, grandson
 The war was in color
 Trust me, grandson
 The war was in color