[Mishmash] Fw: Veteran Thank You

Sun Jun 1 19:59:58 CDT 2008

I also found it moving.

Over the last 10-15 years there has been an amazing change in Australia
towards our veterans or diggers as we call them.  We commemorate their
service on April 25, ANZAC Day, the day Australia and New Zealand invaded
Gallipoli in Turkey.   

As a teenager I was very anti-war, Vietnam was underway, and I was against
everything associated with war, ANZAC Day included .  I gave my Dad a very
hard time and I still regret that.  Anyway, I was not alone and attendance
at ANZAC Day marches were dropping off to the point where there was doubt
about how long it could be maintained.

Another aspect of ANZAC Day is the Dawn Service.  Diggers started this some
years after WW I.  I begins about 5.30AM, similar to the time the first
troops landed on Gallipoli and is essentially a Christian service with
wreath laying, hymns and a sermon.  

When I was a Cubscout leader in the 80's I was shamed into taking my pack to
the Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial.  I had never been despite
my Dad asking me to go with him to the local service.  Anyway I found it
strongly moving and have returned every year since.  I wear my Dad's service
medals and  cry quietly as I am reminded of our time together.  

Again I am not alone.  When I began there might have been a few hundred
people in attendance.  Three weeks back, it was reported that there were
30,000.  I don't know how they count in the dark but there were a mighty lot
of candles and we were way away from the cenotaph.    

Also the march is going from strength to strength.  Sadly there are no WW I
diggers left and the WW II boys are all pretty much on the wrong side of 80
but still they march, many in taxis, four wheel drives or wheel chairs but a
lot still make the trudge.  But there has been enormous growth in the
descendants representing their fathers.  And the crowds watching this year
were ten deep in parts.  Also now Vietnam Vets take part which has only
happened over the last ten years or so.

Not only has the public interest increased but the Government has followed
suit.  A bunch of new memorials have been built along Anzac Parade, a major
road in Canberra, to commemorate different aspects of service.

I think our diggers now have greater respect than ever in my life time.

Cheers

David

From: mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net [mailto:mishmash-bounces at mishmash.net]
On Behalf Of Robyne Kerr
Sent: Thursday, 29 May 2008 3:25 PM
To: Mishmash
Subject: Re: [Mishmash] Fw: Veteran Thank You

Thanks Carole. There is not much recognition to the ones who did do so much
and the ones still out there doing the terrible job that must be done. My
father was part of a US small ships group during WW11 and was taking
supplies to different places around New Guinea and the islands north of
Australia. His ship was a fishing boat but these men did some pretty amazing
things. He couldn't talk about it till very late in life just before he
passed away. The fact he was with United States forces caused a lot of
confusion over they years.  

That was very moving

Robyne

On 29/05/08 1:33 PM, "Carole" <cbower at frontiernet.net> wrote:

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, Fla. , 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 say s.

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 aft er 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 receive this !

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR THE SONG AND SEE THE PICTURES: 

http://www.managedmusic.com/Music/PlayBeforeYouGo.php

  If that doesn't work, click http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html
<http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html>
<http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html> and keep clicking on "hear
the song." 

 <http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=102287&amp;rui=93891053>
<http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=102287&amp;rui=93891053> 

  _____  

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