Chaplain Assistant Bobby Vinton

“Bobby Vinton wrote the hit song “Mr. Lonely” while serving as a chaplain assistant deployed in Vietnam in the late 1950s. Vinton had just earned a degree in musical composition from Duquesne University in Pennsylvania when he was drafted into the U.S. Army” (U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Facebook page).

Vinton mentions being a Soldier in “Mr. Lonely” (though not that he was a chaplain assistant):

Mr. Lonely

Lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely

I have nobody for my own

I am so lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely

Wish I had someone to call on the phone

Now I’m a soldier, a lonely soldier

Away from home through no wish of my own

That’s why I’m lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely

I wish that I could go back home

Letters, never a letter

I get no letters in the mail

I’ve been forgotten, yes, forgotten

Oh how I wonder, how is it I failed

Now I’m a soldier, a lonely soldier

Away from home through no wish of my own

That’s why I’m lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely

I wish that I could go back home