**(Intro)** (Slow acoustic guitar strumming, joined by a lonesome pedal steel guitar slide) (The tempo is moderate, solemn) **(Verse 1)** He left a dirt road in a Tennessee town With a high school ring and a haircut down He kissed his girl on the front porch light Said, "I gotta go do what's right." He didn't want glory, he didn't want fame He just wanted to keep the fire away from home So he pinned on the Eagle, the Globe, and the Anchor And became a defender, a true commander. **(Chorus)** And he said, "If the price is my breath Then I'll pay it willingly, even unto death." For the soil beneath my boots back in the USA Is worth every step that I take away. Yeah, he loved the red, he loved the white and blue And he proved just how much when the bomb went off too. Now the flag came home, but the boy didn't He gave all he had, every bit that he got. **(Verse 2)** The sun burned down on the desert sand Thousands of miles from his native land Watching the horizon for the enemy creep To stop the terror before it could reach our sleep. He wrote in a letter, "Don't you worry for me I'm standing the line so you all can be free." Then the rumble shook ground, and the sky turned black And there wasn't no way for a turning back. **(Chorus)** And he said, "If the price is my breath Then I'll pay it willingly, even unto death." For the soil beneath my boots back in the USA Is worth every step that I take away. Yeah, he loved the red, he loved the white and blue And he proved just how much when the bomb went off too. Now the flag came home, but the boy didn't He gave all he had, every bit that he got. **(Verse 3)** Now the cargo plane touched the runway hard With a hero's remains in a wooden card The town gathered round with their hats in hand For the son of the soil who defended the land. Twenty-one guns fired into the air And a folded flag for the folks back there. He died a Marine, and he died a son But the battle he fought is the battle we won. **(Chorus)** And he said, "If the price is my breath Then I'll pay it willingly, even unto death." For the soil beneath my boots back in the USA Is worth every step that I take away. Yeah, he loved the red, he loved the white and blue And he proved just how much when the bomb went off too. Now the flag came home, but the boy didn't He gave all he had, every bit that he got. **(Outro)** (Pedal steel swells slowly) Yeah, the flag came home... But the boy didn't. (Final acoustic guitar chord rings out and fades) (Spoken softly) Semper Fi.
