Note from Joe: SSgt. Barry Sadler was a Green Beret medic and was wounded by a Punji stick while he was on a combat patrol southeast of Pleiku in the Central Highlands. He was lucky enough to survive. This song is about him being a "lucky one", although his friends were not. Its title is also the title of his autobiography.

I'm A Lucky One

by SSgt. Barry Sadler (1940-1989)

I'm going home, my tour is done
I'm going home, I'm a lucky one
But I've left friends behind me
Who won't come home no more
Yes, many friends remain forever
On that bloody shore

But at night when I sleep, I know my dreams will be
About my friends I left across the sea
I'll hear Virba, Young, and Horn laugh again out loud
We'll all be together in a happy crowd

But then I hear the sound of bullets whining overhead
Feel the crash of mortars, and all my friends are dead
My friends they fought and gave their all
My friends they died for freedom's call

As my dream is ending, they'll come and say good-bye
Though I'm sound asleep, a tear I'll cry
And they say something which fills my heart with pain:
Tell them about us, Sadler; don't let us die in vain

I'm going home, my tour is done
I'm going home, I'm a lucky one