Drive-By Truckers, ‘The Sands of Iwo Jima’ – Songs About Soldiers

The Drive-By Truckers universe is populated by plenty of shady characters, but here, we meet one of the good guys. George A. is a "family man," and in 1941, when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, he first seeks a deferment, since there's work to do on the farm. He winds up serving ("he believed in god and country"), coming home and leading a life that involves yearly reunions with his old war buddies. If George is keen on remembering his time in the South Pacific, he knows the difference between commemorating and glorifying combat. When his grandnephew, the narrator, asks him whether his experiences resembled the movie referenced in the title, the old-timer responds, "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima."

Watch the Drive-By Truckers Perform 'The Sands of Iwo Jima'