A Ballad Written by the Ships Crew Thanks to Todd Green the son of Late Sheldon Green a crew member of the Brister.
The Mighty "B"
From the port of Orange texas,
to sail the seven seas
came the destroyer escort, BRISTER
witch was called the Mighty "B".
Her crew was green, a bunch of boys,
Those patriotic souls.
A special bunch of men they where
Who could take her rocks & rolls.
Her first trip was to Bermuda,
One of thoses rough sea trials,
At first her gallant crew,
was hanging on the rails.
Soon their stomachs were forgotten,
Then came the showdown scene,
For the mighty "B" was chosen,
To clean out the Carribean.
On those runs down through the tropics,
We got our first contacts,
And many a night, the general alarm,
Brought her cew up & out of their sacks.
But they never amounted to much,
as far as battles go,
So soon we found ourselves enrolled to,
the island of Curcao.
From there we went to Naples,
A port in Italy,
All the way across,
Twas as calm as could be.
The air attack in the harbor,
( I dont think the army knew)
Never disturbed the sleep,
of that Gallant "Brister" crew.
We had our share of vino,
and that rotten Sherry Brandy,
It's only use, when in a scrap,
The bottle came in handy.
After that, we came again,
But we could never stay,
For many of these "Brister" Boys,
Were wrongly lead astray.
Next was the city of Belfast,
In northern Ireland
And all hands on swore,
Was the mighty "B"'s last stand.
There were many Irish girls,
with nothing else to do.
But to try to rope those gallant men,
of the Mighty "Bristers" crew.
These girls where not forgotten, although,
We tried so hard,
At least, until we pulled into,
The Brooklyn Navy yard.
'Twas on our way to Liverpool,
Through the Irish sea,
That a new channel was blasted by,
The gallant Mighty"B".
There were a lot of subs in there,
But the captain never gave the orders,
That would send this bloody "Brister" crew,
Scrambling to their general quarters.
But now thats all forgotten,
As everything so far,
That the "Brister" & her gallant crew had,
Done to win the war.
We dont deserve the glory, but,
We want you to let you know,
That the "Brister" & her bloody crew,
Have seen these bloody shows.
I can't leave out old Cardiff, Wales,
That city by the sea,
Had curfew on a lot of ships,
But not the mighty "B".
For this reason, a limey sailor,
Punched a crewman on the chin,
But he didn't know then,
That the battle was to begin.
Now the people of Cardiff,
Can more freely breath,
For soon after this incident,
The "Brister" took its leave.
She was then sent to Panama,
To join the Pacific fleet,
For the navy department knew,
That the "B" was never beat.
She pushed into Diego,
From there we went to Pearl,
The Japs knew then, if they didnt quite,
They'd soon be bearded in erl.
We skipped out through the islands,
& came to rest at Leyte,
It was there we got the order,
That said "Brister", are you ready?
Then came the word to proceed,
To the Formosian coast,
& bring back those P. O.W.' s
At any Blessed cost.
This was done with a will,
That showed we were not yellow,
We brought our share aboard, then,
Then- Full speed to Minilla.
The women there were small,
No one could call them white,
But after six months of Pacific,
They shire looked awfully light.
From there to Okinawa,
Where a Typhoon nearly swamped us,
If we came up--- it threw us,
If we stayed down--- it stomped us.
We were off the coast of China,
Just out here for the ride,
With mine fields to the north & south,
& the Block Island on our port side.
The Block Island is a carrier,
She was mean, we couldn't stand her,
So one say while passing fuel at sea,
The "B" got mad & rammed her.
To this day we're on that well known list,
But we dont give a dam.
Although from now on, the "Brister" will,
Be standing by to Ram.
& now the war is over,
& we have done our share,
The "Brister" SEZ- let my crew,
Take me back to old times square.
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