Soaked to the skin - rain the only sound
Hen hid from soldiers - dumping down rain
Young Japanese soldier - hoping to be found
Shivering from malaria - hunger and pain.

All his men dead - Lieutenant Hen led
Nineteen going on twenty - just a boy
Bullet in his belly - he should be dead
"Die for the Emperor of the sun" - national ploy.

Shivering inside the massive tree - he couldn't see
A voice barking orders - Hen's hope shrank
Hen lifted his arms in surrender, thinking to be free
"Bloody yellow peril, chuck him in the tank."

He couldn't understand the lingo - didn't want to die
Aussie soldiers fed him, gave him pills
Medic removed the bullet, sewed with straight eye
Hen tried to thank them - blank from his ills.

Days rolled by - Zero's lit the skies
Hen heard his own planes diving on the enemy
He would go home - mother he could tell lies
How he was wounded - belly opened like anemone.

For months the men made their way south
Hen was camp water-boy - hoping to be free
Then the war was over - cheering from every mouth
Lieutenant Hen Tak Si gazed towards the sea.