Drove my wife and all the kids to Washington D.C.
Took a tour to see the seat of our democracy
What moved us most was a long black piece of granite in the ground
With fifty-eight thousand names, each laid in some hometown
And the wall can never tell it all
The price they paid to answer duty’s call
Lost sons and daughters in the prime of youth
Sometime prayers aren’t bullet proof
Babies that they never saw
And the tears began to flow when I touched the wall
Feeling names of friends who had to fall
Brides and grooms that weren’t to be
Defenders of our liberty
They gave it all
“What was learned?” my oldest asked, “from all this misery”
“That war is hell,” I whispered back, “and freedom’s never free”
Brave troops come back in every race, and hatred must be learned
And rights to speak and vote in peace are rights that must be earned
And that wall will never tell it all
The price they paid to answer duty’s call
Lost sons and daughters in the prime of youth
Sometime prayers aren’t bullet proof
Babies that they never saw
Driving home my daughter’s word kept flowing through my mind
It hit me like a ton of bricks when I crossed the Georgia line
There’s no color in a soldier’s face when racked with grief and pain
And if we learn to live as one, they won’t have died in vain
And that wall can never tell it all
The price they paid to answer duty’s call
Lost sons and daughters in the prime of youth
Sometime prayers aren’t bullet proof
Babies that they never saw
And the fears began to flow when I touched the wall
Feeling names of friends who had to fall
Brides and grooms that weren’t to be
Defenders of our liberty