MacArthur spoke these exact words at the end of his Farewell Address to Congress on 19 April 1951 ↗, but he introduced them as “the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day.” The song is an anonymous British Army parody of the hymn “Kind Words Can Never Die,” and Word Histories found it being sung in 1908 ↗. MacArthur made the line famous. He did not write it.
“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away” refrain of an anonymous British Army barrack ballad, quoted by Douglas MacArthur in his Farewell Address to Congress, 19 April 1951. Via Quotle.info
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? We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.
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In context
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Provenance
Where the line was spoken — and where it came from
Speech
Farewell Address to Congress
Delivered
19 April 1951, Washington, D.C.
MacArthur’s framing
“the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day”
The song
Anonymous British Army parody of the hymn “Kind Words Can Never Die”
The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, 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. Good Bye.
Closing of the address
MacArthur put the line in quotation marks and named its source, a barrack ballad. The soldiers’ versions in print say “simply fade away” (Sassoon, 1918: “they simply fide a-why!”). The “just fade away” wording is the one MacArthur spoke in 1951.
The hymn: the song parodies “Kind Words Can Never Die.” Word Histories gives the earliest version of the hymn it found, from The Sabbath-School Bell (Philadelphia, 1859), and reprints the soldiers’ parody, ending “They simply fade away.” Word Histories ↗
1908–1914, British Army dinners and letters: Word Histories reports a 25 February 1908 Buchan Observer account of a regimental dinner where the company sang the chorus “Old soldiers never die.” It also reports a 1913 report of the line as “a saying” and a September 1914 soldier’s letter calling it “the old song.” Word Histories ↗
1918, Siegfried Sassoon: his poem “Twelve Months After” in Counter-Attack and Other Poems quotes the marching soldiers: “Old soldiers never die; they simply fide a-why!” / That’s what they used to sing along the roads last spring. Project Gutenberg ↗
19 April 1951, MacArthur to Congress: he quotes “the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day,” and the line becomes his in popular memory. Wikiquote ↗
The refrain belongs to an anonymous traditional soldiers’ song that was in print in Sassoon’s Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918) as “they simply fide a-why.” No identifiable author holds it. The exact “just fade away” wording is MacArthur’s 1951 address to Congress, delivered while he was a serving officer, and we have not established that speech’s copyright status. So we assert no rights status here. Quoting the single line with attribution is ordinary practice.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
He said it — he just didn’t claim it
This is not a fake quotation. MacArthur spoke these words, on a known date, to Congress. The trouble is that the clause in which he tells you he is quoting a song is the part that always gets cut.
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Popularly credited toDouglas MacArthur quoted, not coined
In his 19 April 1951 farewell address he introduced the line as “the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day” and then compared himself to “the old soldier of that ballad” speech transcript ↗.
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Sometimes credited toJ. Foley 1920 song copyright
The Phrase Finder notes the phrase is widely credited to a J. Foley, said to have copyrighted a song with that title in 1920. It doubts the claim, because the expression already appears in Sassoon’s 1918 Counter-attack poems The Phrase Finder ↗.
✓The line is the refrain of an anonymous British Army barrack-room song that parodies the hymn “Kind Words Can Never Die.” Word Histories found the chorus being sung at a regimental dinner reported in 1908 Word Histories ↗.
Context
Why the line stuck to MacArthur
MacArthur gave the address after President Truman relieved him of his command in the Korean War. Most of it was a warning about the Communist threat in Asia, but its ending was a farewell. He said he was “closing my 52 years of military service” and borrowed the refrain of a song he remembered from the barracks This Day in Quotes ↗.
The soldiers’ original was a joke at the expense of army life and long-serving soldiers. MacArthur’s use was sincere and sentimental. After the speech, Gene Autry recorded a rewritten version praising the general, and from then on the line belonged to MacArthur in popular memory This Day in Quotes ↗.
“I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day”
Is “just” or “simply” the right word?
Both are genuine. The soldiers’ versions in print say “simply fade away,” and Sassoon gives it in Cockney spelling as “they simply fide a-why!” MacArthur said “they just fade away,” and that is the version most people know today.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Douglas MacArthur was an American general. He served in World War I, was chief of staff of the U.S. Army from 1930 to 1935, commanded in the Southwest Pacific in World War II, oversaw the occupation of Japan, and led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until President Truman relieved him in 1951. His farewell speech to Congress ended with this barrack-ballad refrain. He credited it to the soldiers’ song, but the line has been his in popular memory ever since.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Farewell Address to Congress, 19 Apr 1951
MacArthur, Douglas. Farewell Address to Congress, Washington, D.C., 19 April 1951, quoting the refrain of an anonymous soldiers’ barrack ballad. Transcript, American Rhetoric. The song is attested in British newspapers from 1908 (Word Histories) and in Siegfried Sassoon, “Twelve Months After,” Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918).
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Old soldiers never die; they just fade away’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/old-soldiers-never-die-they-just-fade-away/