The bird sent out loud thunder
And burned out all things wrong
It moved in every direction
With sharp claws, like a prong.

Running back to his cover
To tell. what he had seen
The Red man told his story
Of the marvelous, birdlike thing

The leader called all the people
To listen, and everyone heard, 
“By decree of the sun and the waters,
She’ll be known as The Great Thunderbird.”

So by the sun and the waters
Many years brought the passage of time.
People came to hear this same story
Of the bird in the sunbelt clime.

And as often as they heard it,
Nobody doubted the word
Of the mystical touch and fighting power
Of the wonderful Thunderbird.

One Sunday morn when all was still
An enemy arose
To stab our country in the back
And punch us in the nose. 

Suddenly out of the great Southwest
From every wood and hill
The spirit of this bird rose up
And landed at Fort Sill.

The great bird hovered in the air
Looking fierce and mean
And any place our men would go
This bird was on the scene.

Each man wore a symbol
To keep the bird alive
And displayd proudly on the pater
Was number forty-five.

One day when all was ready
The bird began to move
And al1 the nation understood 
This bird was “in the groove”.

She headed into Africa
To make the Nazis crawl
In Sicily and Anzio
They heard the wild bird’s call.

On the streets of ancient Rome
The message soon was heard.
Run when you see a forty-five
For it’s the Thunderbird!

Across the land of Europe
Moved Patton’s mighty Third.
The one he called his very best
Was the famous Thunderbird.

With beak thrust forward, neck outstretched
She thundered all the time
Then came the day all hell broke loose
She struck the Siegfried line.

With one great swooping thrust
This bird went in a spin
And when the smoke had settled
Our troops were in Berlin.

When all the guns were silenced
And fighting was at end,
The Thunderbird looked around
To see where it had been.

When she saw the lifeless forms
Of brave men who had died
She folded up her mighty wings
And hung her head and cried.

She flew back to the great Southwest
Where she had first begun
And disappeared while flying
Into the setting sun.

Go out and tell this message
To all who prey on men
The Thunderbird is living yet -
This bird can rise again.