[R-390] To our veterans

[n4buq at knology.net]

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 witn
essed 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!

Thank you Daddy, Mike and Tom.  Ellie (Mary)

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



http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html