He's five feet two, and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of thirty-one, and he's only seventeen
He's been a soldier for a thousand years

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist, and a Baptist, and a Jew
And he knows he shouldn't kill, and he knows he always will
Kill you for me, my friend, and me for you

And he's killing for Canada, he's killing for France
He's killing for the USA
And he's killing for the Russians, and he's killing for Japan
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way

And he's fighting for democracy, he's fighting for the Reds
He says it's for the peace of us all
He's the one who must decide who's to live and who's to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall

But without him, how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
Without him, Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war
And without him all this killing can't go on

He's the universal soldier, and he rarely is to blame
His orders come from far away, no more
They come from here and there, and you and me
And brothers, can't you see?
This is not the way we put the end to war