Showing results for "Ivy" in Military

Ivy tells the story of a brave young woman who was awarded a special war commendation in signals during World War II in the Women's Arny Corp. She disarmed a German officer pointing a pistol in her face, survived strafing by a German bomber as she walked along a farm path as a Land Girl and lived in a garage with a dirt floor and cold water tap after migrating to Australia, She raised three young children after her husband dropped dead aged 39.

During basic training in the army, it was common practice for the recruits to exercise and march to the cadence of popular songs of the time to keep the trainees in sync. It also took the trainees' minds off the exercise—sometimes strenuous—that they were engaged in, and a five-mile forced march before breakfast was tolerated with little grumbling. Although the cadence was always the same, the words were often changed to reflect the reality of military duty. At the time, the words of the Coasters's hit song "Poison Ivy" were adapted to fit the life of a grunt in Vietnam.