 The song, which begins with a spoken introduction by Kris Kristofferson, tells the tale of Niles Harris, a soldier in the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the United States Army during Operation Hump in South Vietnam on November 8, 1965.The intro mentions that Harris was "the guy that gave Big Kenny his top hat", and that he was among the wounded who were saved by Army medic Lawrence Joel, the first living African American to receive the Medal of Honor since the Spanish–American War of 1898.The song is in a 6/8 time signature, and is in A mixolydian with a primary chord pattern of A–G–D–A.