Oh! You might have passed him in the street
That dear old Dad of mine,
His clothes were always neat and clean,
His shoes, a daily shine.
He was just an average person,
And he never made a fuss,
And even if he wasn't rich
He was always "there" for us.
He got married to my Mum
Back in Nineteen-Thirty-Nine,
I think it was in December
When the Ulster winds all whine.
The War came in September
And my Dad had soon to go
For he was in the Navy
To help with that bad show.
He was every where, my Dad was.
The Norway coast up north,
Till a German mine stopped his ship,
Right in the Firth of Forth.
So off to Newfoundland they said,
That's where your gonna be.
And that's where he took an awful risk
To save the boys at sea.
He'd seen action in the Spanish War,
And then in World War two,
Till he finished up his time
Back here with me an' you.
He'd come home to Ulster,
Five years he'd been away,
An' my Mum waited for 'im
Every long and fear-filled day.
He would never talk about it,
The War, I mean, as such,
While he worked down at the "Island"
And tried to make as much
Provison for the future
As we youngsters came along.
And Dad, he kept an eye on us
To make us brave and strong.
My Dad's dead and gone now,
He was just an average "Joe",
Except on one day of the year
I'll have you all to know.
On the Eleventh of November
Down to the Cenotaph,
My Dad marched with all his friends
I have a photograph.
No, I haven't done yet,
But as I was goin' to say,
My Dad marched so proudly
On each Remembrance day.
He's never missed a one o' them,
At each one, every year
He stood there for the Silence,
An' perhaps he shed a tear.
He's not in any record book
That names the brave in fights.
He'll never make "Who's Who"
Or have his name in lights.
But he is a real life hero still
Who fought to keep us free.
He gave his all and then some,
I think it's plain to see.
He never shared his secrets,
And I never really asked
That quiet man to bare his soul
Of stories of the past.
Yet as he stood there silently
Faceless in the crowd,
To me he was a hero
A fact that makes me proud.