William D. Royster

FLAK ALLEY

Silver wings in the moonlight
Sailing swiftly through the night
With a rendezvous with destiny
Before the coming morning light

There’s a place called Fuji Ami
Where the bombing run begins
It’s a straight line to the target
Will we stand on earth again?

There’s a place we call Flak Ally
That the combat crews all dread
Where the shells burst all around us
Some one down there wants us dead

Fiery fingers reach to grab us
As the search lights scan the sky
Then we’re caught in their clutches
We can’t escape them, though we try

Shrapnel then explodes around us
As the shells light up the night
We can feel the aircraft shudder
Then continue in its flight

We continue onward, forward
Till we hear the bombardier say
The words that we were waiting for
As he announces, “Bombs Away!”

Then the Zeros are coming at us
At last, now we can use our guns
They harass us to the coastline
As we fly toward the rising sun

Yes, our plane is badly wounded
But we still hear the engines drone
Still we pray that we will make it;
It’s 15 hundred miles to home.

We still hear our engines labor
As we struggle through the night
Still we pray that we will make it
We have not yet won this fight

Silver wings now in the day light
And we have our base in sight
Soon we’ll come in for a landing
We’ll not forget this bitter night

What a blessing! What a feeling!
As we stand on earth again
Still it’s a short-lived pleasure
Tomorrow we much go out again

We don’t fight for fame or glory
We have done this job for pay
We only flew for 18 hours
And I earned 5 bucks today

©Copyright 1978 by William D. Royster

Author’s Note: Dedicated to Bomber Crew 60: 499th Bomb Group – 879th Bomb. Squad; Saipan Island 1944-45