<P> 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 . </P> <P> The phrase generated a host of joke snowclones, such as: </P> <Ul> <Li> Old programmers never die, they just branch to a new address </Li> <Li> Old policemen never die, they just cop out </Li> <Li> Old pilots never die, they just go to a higher plane . </Li> <Li> 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 ." </Li> </Ul> <Li> Old programmers never die, they just branch to a new address </Li>

Old soldiers never die they simply fade away