November 11th is Veterans Day – please take the time to read the following and listen to the song. I hope you will be inspired to thank a Veteran for the freedoms that we all enjoy today.
The elderly parking lot attendant wasn’t in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1:00am and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Florida eye doctor 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. Looking at the man he told him, “Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you.” Then the old soldier began to cry. This really got to Bierstock.
Cut to today………..Bierstock and John Melnick – 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.” Bierstock says. “The WWII 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 makes me cry,” wrote one veteran’s son. Another sent an email 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.” The son wrote, “I can never thank them enough. Thank you for thinking of them.”
Bierstock and Melnich 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. They hope every veteran in America and around the world gets a chance to hear it.
GOD BLESS EVERY VETERAN!
Click HERE to hear the song and see the photo essay.
Becca
If you can read this message, thank a Teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a Soldier.
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