THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS BRANCH SONG:

"ESSAYONS"

Essayons, sound out the battle cry

Essayons, we'll win or we'll die

Essayons, there's nothing we won't try..

We're the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers..

Pin the castle on my collar

I've done my training for the team.

You can call me an engineer soldier,

The warrior spirit has been my dream

We are builders, we are fighters!

We are destroyers just as well

There've been doubters who met with the sappers..

And then we blew them all straight to hell

Our brothers fighting on the battlefield

Look to us to point the way

We get there first and then we take the risks

To build the roads and the air strips

And bridge the mighty river streams

We don't care who gets the glory

We're sure of one thing, this we know

Somewhere out there an engineer soldier

Designed the plan for the whole darn show

Essayons whether in war or peace

We will bear our red and our white

Essayons we serve America

And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers..

Essayons!!

Essayons!!

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Chorus: (Sung after each verse)

We are, we are, we are, we are, the Combat ENGINEER'S

we can, we can, we can, we can, demolish forty beers

Drink up, drink up, drink up, drink up and come along with us

For we don’t give a damn, for any Old Man, who don’t give a damn for us - Hey

Verses:

Now Venus is a statue made entirely out of stone,

She hasn't a fig leaf on her – she is naked to the bone.

On seeing that her arms we gone, two ENGINEERS discoursed,

Of course the darn thing's broken and should be reinforced!

An ENGINEER and a tanker once found a gallon can

Said the tanker to the ENGINEER "Out drink me if you can!"

The tanker took three drinks and died, his face was turning green.

But the ENGINEER kept drinking, it was only gasoline.

Godiva was a lady who through Coventry did ride,

Showing all the villagers her lovely, lily hide

The most observant fellow was an ENGINEER of course,

Was the only one to notice that Godiva rode a horse!

I've come a long, long way she said and I'll go as long and far

with the man who'll help me off my horse and lead me to a bar

The men who helped her off her horse and stood her to a beer,

Were a bleary-eyed surveyor and a drunken ENGINEER!

My father was a miner on the upper Malamute,

My mother was a hostess in a house of ill repute.

When I was only sixteen years, she shouted loud and clear

Get out of the house, become a man, and join the ENGINEERS!

Julius Caesar went to Egypt at the age of 53

Cleopatra’s blood was warm, her heart was young and free

But every night when Julie left her house at 3 o’clock

There was a Roman Engineer awaiting just around the block

Sir Francis Drake and all his men put out for Misery Bay

They heard the Spanish Rum Fleet was heading out that way

But the Engineers had beat them by a night and half a day

And though as drunk as hooligans you still could hear them say

The Air Force and the Navy came to town to have some fun

Down to the taverns where the fiery liquors run

But all they found was broken glass, the Engineers had come

And traded junk filled demo bags for gallon kegs of rum

We lay down all their rolling roads and cut down all their trees

And if the order ever comes, we’d forge the raging seas

When ever they want to sleep awhile, we put them up a town

And we build the blasted bridges so the Infantry won’t drown

We put them over rivers and across the mountain streams

Do everything but tuck them in and wish them pleasant dreams

And when the going’s really tough, and shells do burst our ears

The whole Division’s apt to say, GOD, SEND THE ENGINEERS

We build and blow your bridges and fix your roads up too,

There aren't too many things in life an ENGINEER can't do.

You never seem to need us 'til your minds are filled with fear,

Then the first thing that you call for are the Combat ENGINEERS.

We plan and guard your barriers, and we build your bunkers too,

And each and every war we prove what the ENGINEERS can do.

For in the thick of every fight, the cry has been for years

Come clear the pass, and save our ass, you Combat ENGINEERS.

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ENGINEERS POEM

We lay down their rolling roads

And cut down all the trees;

And if the orders ever came,

We'd forge the raging seas.

Whenever they want to sleep awhile

We put them up a town,

And we build the blasted bridges

So the Infantry won't drown.

We get them over rivers

And across mountain streams

Do everything but tuck them in

And wish them pleasant dreams;

And when the going's really rough

And bombs burst in their ears,

A whole division is apt to pray,

"God, send the Engineers!"

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THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS POEM

They've a song about the Army

The Navy and Marines:

They've got one for the Air Force

The whole darn works it seems.

But they've never taken trouble

Though we've served them all for years,

To write a verse or two

For the Corps of Engineers.

We build their roads and airfields

Their pipelines and their camps,

From underground munitions dumps

To concrete loading ramps.

Before the others get there

We had to break the ground,

And we built it all to suit their needs

Solid, safe and sound.

But the ENGINEERS aren't kicking

For when their moving in,

We know it's just another place

Where we've already been.

If the Army and the Navy

Ever look on Heaven's scene,

'Tis said the streets will be patrolled

By United States Marines.

Now who will guard the streets up there

We aren't disposed to say,

But we offer this suggestion

If they look at things that way:

When the Marines have taken over

In that land that knows no years,

They'll find it designed and built

By the Corps of Engineers!

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THE REGIMENTAL TOAST

HERE'S A HEALTH TO THE ARMY.

AND HERE'S A HEALTH TO OUR CORPS;

HERE'S TO THE FLAG FLYING UP ON THE HILL,

AND THE BIRD FLYING OVER OUR DOOR:

STAND BY WITH YOUR GLASSES ALL BRIMMING,

HERE'S HEALTH, AND HERE'S HOW, AND HERE'S LUCK.

AND HERE'S TO THE CASTLES OF SILVER WE WEAR.

AND "THE EAGLE THAT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK."

This toast was first raised in the fall of 1898 after the Spanish American War by a young Engineer officer at the officers' mess at Fort Totten, (now known as Willets Point), on Long Island, New York. The toast mentions the flag which is the American Flag flown at the Post Headquarters. The "bird flying over the door" and the "eagle that looks like a duck" refer to the relief carving of the crest taken from the seal of the Corps of Engineers. This crest consisted of an eagle, mounted above a banner inscribed with the Engineer Motto "ESSAYONS." Surrounding the eagle and banner was a wreath of oak and laurel branches, oak symbolizing strength and laurel symbolizing accomplishment. Today, this wooden carving resides in the Engineer Museum's Regimental Room, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Thanks to: Captain Christopher J. Doniec United States Army Corps of Engineers

Speaking of Engineer songs. Seems like two of the main ones were "Dinah blow your

horn". " Dont you hear the Captain shouting, Dinah blow your horn". Also, the one about " Old King Cole was a merry old soul and he called for Privates three. Beer, beer,beer said the privates, merry men are we. There's no one here that can drink more beer than a combat engineer". And it went on to the Cpl's, Sgts, ETC with different verses. This was back in WW 2 at Ft. Belvoir prior to most of our groups in

basic being transferred to Infantry..

I like the

- no one here can drink more beer than a combat engineer!

Let the fun begin...

The engineer hymn

An Engineer Hymn was found on the the US Army Engineer Museum site, Fort Leonard Wood!

From same site:

A Poem for the Engineers - The Sons of Martha - 1907 - Rudyard Kipling

Punch Bowl Ceremony

This isn't the same one we witnessed at Fort Hood, but I found this one on the same site above.