"IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC WITH THE 503 -
1942-1945"
_________________
Norman F. Petzelt 

Down where there may be no tomorrow,
and a man can raise a thirst,

were the outcasts of civilization,
victims of life at its worst.

There in that tropical jungle
were the men that time forgot,

who battle the ever present fever,
the itch and the jungle rot.

The heat to 120° down
in that sweltering zone,
with a war to be fought
many thousand miles from home.

We lived with blood sucking leeches
and deadly ticks to pick off each day,
no where to raise hell for an evening,
just work and sweat all day.

Vermin at night in your poncho,
ills no doctor could cure,

Hell no, we were not convicts,
just Troopers on a foreign tour.

A woman's face but a picture,
whose form we had almost forgot,
and pray not to contact malaria
end up in that jungle to rot.

There is one consulation,
gather round while I tell,
when they die these Troopers go to heaven,
they have done their stretch in Hell!!

© Petzelt Estate - Courtesy of the Reference Services, Hoskins Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library,