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i dont exactly know where to put this, this seemes like the best place. I got this from an E-mail


(Read this and then click the link below)

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 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 veteran...
and THANK you to those veterans who may receive this !

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

[url]http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html
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I don't know how old old is, but it's older than I am!!!!

Now that is a great tribute!

It reminds me of my fathers father, that was in the danish resistance force under the war.

Cheers Theis

That was lovely. Very moving.
Thanks for that.

http://www.managedmusic.com/responses_to_B4UGo.htm

SOme lovely tributes there.

As a veteran of Vietnam, for my uncles and grandfather that served during WWII. I thank you for posting this and I thank the creators of such a moving tribute.

Here are the lyrics if you want them.

Before you go.

Quietly you all turned grey,
You did the job you saved our way,
Our life and freedom you preserved,
We

Nice tribute.
It's rare indeed to hear a WWII combat vet gripe about anything; the few I've met were pretty serene. After what they went through, the rest was pure gravy... and they didn't mind if nobody thanked them; they were just happy to see America and its allies pull through and go on to better things.
But I can understand it; a lot of those guys didn't quite get what they were expecting, after tossing their dreams aside to go help save the civilized world.
 
As these warriors fade away, the rest of us need to make sure people remember what they did, and why.
That's the saddest part of this whole WWII-vet die-off: that their stories will fade with them.

Nice tribute.
It's rare indeed to hear a WWII combat vet gripe about anything; the few I've met were pretty serene. After what they went through, the rest was pure gravy... and they didn't mind if nobody thanked them; they were just happy to see America and its allies pull through and go on to better things.
But I can understand it; a lot of those guys didn't quite get what they were expecting, after tossing their dreams aside to go help save the civilized world.

Quite. No offence but like Bjorn I never understood this trend for thanking WWII veterans. Some volunteered but many of them had no choice in the matter. They had to go where they were sent & do what they were ordered to do. Many of them were killed or badly injured but they all lost the best years of their young lives when they would have preferred to be doing something else. Remember them & honour them yes but I'm not sure they want thanking. Most of those I've met didn't want to be there & prefer to forget the whole thing. I respect that & these are the real heroes, not the ones that are always bragging about it. If you care to ask them I suspect that most would say that the 'land fit for heroes to live in' they were promised on their return turned out very different from what they expected or hoped for.

RAF Battle of Britain ace Bob Doe put it nicely when asked about it on a TV documentary. He said; "I didn't hate the Germans or want be a hero, I simply wanted to stop them bombing my Mum's house." "Nobody has the right to do that." "We don't want thanks just as long as people remember what we did & why we did it."

I have to say I'm inclined to agree.

Also, would you thank a German veteran?  Japanese?  Like you mention Hagar, many veterans would rather forget about it, so how does thanking them for things they found unenjoyable improve things.

I would say it's a choice of words.  I respect these veterans for everything they went through.  Respect beyond all measure.

a tribute to our WWII vets"

well not a tribute for "our" veterans I presume...but anyway, they were just krauts, right?

well not a tribute for "our" veterans I presume...but anyway, they were just krauts, right?

My thoughts exactly.

It is a nice tribute but at least the WWII vets were treated well when they came back. The Vietnam veterans were treated horrably and it wasent right that they where treated so badly just because Veitnam was an "unpopular war" they fought and died for our country.