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Old soldiers never die; they only fade away

A line from a song popular among soldiers in Britain in World War I.

Note

This proverb became particularly famous when General Douglas MacArthur quoted it after being relieved of his command in the Korean War.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.