Henry's Songbook

Tune: Botany Bay

Just below the Manchurian border
Korea's the name of the spot
We're due to be spending some time here
In a land that God forgot

We're the soldiers of the Empire
Earning our measly pay
Guarding all those millionaires
For four lousy shillings a day

(as sung by Hamish Imlach)

[1973:] Mr. Edgar Turner of Chadwell Heath, Essex, learnt this song from a workmate who'd served with the 'glorious' Gloucesters in Korea, the Asian war which monopolised the world headlines before Vietnam. If it was actually sung in Korea, it was probably learnt from the Americans, since it bears a close resemblance to American army songs of the Spanish-American War, notably We've Done Our Hitch In Hell [...]. (Dallas, Wars 181, giving eight verses)

[1990:] Service during the Korean War was on the whole decidedly unpopular. It is said that the song was officially banned in British units, but that handwritten copies were defiantly fly-posted in NAAFI canteens, including that of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The text seems to be partly based on We've Done Our Hitch In Hell, a song of the Spanish-American War of 1898 [...] the tune based on Botany Bay. (Palmer, Lovely War 197)

See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1285000/1285708.stm