I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier

Speranza

I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
I brought him to be my pride and joy
who dares to put a rifle on his shoulder
to shoot another mother's darling boy

cited by Evelyn Waugh, "A little learning"

"When, route-marching, we were exhorted to sing, we IGNORED the ballads sanctified by the infantry of the Great War, and loped along out of step droning the American ditty.