Posted on 04/01/2008 3:40:46 PM PDT by jazusamo
Well said, Leni. :)
The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood!Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Florida eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.
He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.
At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."
Then the old soldier began to cry.
"That really got to me," Bierstock says.
Cut to today.
Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.
"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."
The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren
. "It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss " the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."
Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.
GOD BLESS every EVERY veteran... and THANK you to those of you veterans who may see this. Click below to listen:
My daddy was a naval aviator in the Pacific. He didn't talk about it. This song really makes me blurry eyed.
Tubebender sent it to me in an email a while back. Thanks Tork.
Outstanding! Thank you for posting this, glock rocks.
Repeated often , sadly too few listen. Damn good point GR !!
Excellent! Thank you too, SouthTexas.
Thank You...
We had a conversation at work about the general “state” of things and one of my buddies teased me about me not “trusting” the state. I told them that I only trusted the Lord and those willing to fight and die for me! I told them that I’ve been operating that way for quite some time now and the Lord has never let me down and those willing to fight and die for me are the next best thing! Everybody agreed. :-)
Print out that thread I just pinged ya too and make em read that.........trust no one, expect anything and remember the only way for two people to keep a secret is if one of em is dead.........
Woof !
Outstanding! Thank you. What a humble and honest man. I’m impressed by his grandchildren’s statements.
"The" Reverund J. Wrong, Osama's pastor, ranted about the A-bombs in at least one of his sermons. He has established that he is only a ahyphena human rights activist, but he is nuts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.