A departing sailor's FAREWELL ADDRESS
TO THE MIGHTY FIGHTING FLETCHER


The Fletcher is a mighty ship
Its loyal sons are we
We strive to make as worthy a ship
As ever sailed the seas.
With organized confusion
Its' in an awful mess
So I'm writing this here poem
As MY farewell address.

Oh the Captain rules with a mighty hand
But the roaches run the ship
And with complete impunity
Into our chow they dip.
The supply department pays us
In dollars and in cents
But when it all is totaled up
Why do we OWE the government?

Our engineers are of the finest
We'll never run a reef
But leave a store room open
And he's nothing but a thief.
The mess cooks try to feed us
The best that they know how
But there is just no way in hell
That THIS! is NAVY chow.

The deck apes try to keep
A neat and tidy ship
But with so much else going wrong
They just don't seem to give a SHIT
And so as I write this here
MY FAREWELL ADDRESS
I'm proud to say I leave the Fletcher,
In the same way that I found HER
IN ONE BIG HELL OF A MESS !!!!!!!

by Anonymous
Circulated 1953--1955
Submitted by Frank C. Vasquez

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