He has no stripes or bars
He wears no silver stars
He never won any medal or citation
He’s at the bottom of the ladder
But his spirit’s never shattered
Even though his is the toughest situation
He does all the dirty work
His duty he’ll never shirk
And he goes to sleep without reaping any credit
He’ll defeat the enemy
He’ll destroy their whole army
It’s all in the news but I doubt you’ve read it
He flies Hercules and Hawkeyes
He fires Chaparrals and Redeyes
And other things that no one thinks about
He walks a hundred miles on foot
Through sun, rain, sand, and soot
But believe me it’s him we can’t do without
We will never know his name
He will never claim his fame
His flag will never fly unfurled
He has no part in folklore
Though he’s fought in every war
This is the unsung hero of the world
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
This one was written in November 1985, when I was taking my advanced training course as part of the IDF Artillery Corps. Endless shifts on sentry duty were par for the course, and one fine afternoon as I observed, from a distance, my buds being marched around the tent area, I thought of how these guys—myself among them, eventually—would form the backbone of the fighting forces on the ground, doing all the hard work and exposed to the line of fire with none of the credit reserved for generals and politicians. So I decided to write a song for "the little guys," with the initial version scrawled on the inside of the sentry box. The music was (aptly) inspired by Donovan's "Universal Soldier." Never recorded or performed.