Old soldiers never die

"Old soldiers never die" is an English language catchphrase, with the full version being "Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away". It is made from a stanza from the soldiers' folklore song Old Soldiers Never Die:


 * Old soldiers never die,
 * Never die, never die,
 * Old soldiers never die,
 * They simply fade away.

The song itself is a British Army's parody of the gospel song Kind Thoughts Can Never Die.

In the United States, the phrase was used by general Douglas MacArthur in his April 19, 1951 farewell address to the U.S. Congress (which has become known the "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech): "... but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty."

The phrase generated a host of joke snowclones, such as: In a 1980 interview with Barbara Walters on ABC's program 20/20, former president Richard Nixon paraphrased MacArthur and the catchphrase for himself by saying "Old politicians usually die, but they never fade away."
 * Old programmers never die, they just branch to a new address
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