Before You Go !

[Marnie Mowles]

Please read and go to the bottom for the site to hear the song!

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 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, clickhttp://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html and keep clicking on "hear the song."

Then share it with everyone you know.

"So let us not become tired of doing good: for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family and in the faith."Galations 6:9-10

[Robert Ryan]

Great Video, Greatest Generation, Thank you for my freedom.

[Boats]

I shake the hand of anyone who has served. I shook the hand of a man who was at Pearl Harbor and thanked him. Hell I've even hugged some of the guys I served with from back during my time.

WWII is special for me as my Dad and Uncle went through that war. I lost my brother to agent orange. It's awful to think how many have suffered from some of the side affects of being in a conflict or war and how it can do permanent damage to others.

I've been lucky - I've seen alot and I can still remember. I don't want to forget - not really because its a driving force in me to continue on and make sure others don't forget those who've been killed and injured.

I can reflect even today some of the guys I see in the VA in the hallways in wheel chairs some missing arms or legs. Scars run deep and yet when we mingle together and bullshit to pass the time - we can all laugh and cry together on those occassions where we let the walls come down.

It's been five or more years since I've had any issues that have made me emotional with regards to the VN war. Memorial Day is tough but I go through it and make the best of it I can. I go to some of the memorial's to walk down the paths to read the names and to make sure my mind can recall what it was all about.

I hug my grandkids and feel blessed that I can still do that. I look into their innocent faces and see sparkling eyes and all their future ahead of them. Their Papa loves them and they know it. To have missed this would be terrible. And then I know all the guys that were lost didn't have what I have - I thank them from the bottom of my heart and now my eyes are burning and I know a tear will flow from my eyes and I just can't stop it.

Yes - as tough as nails and yet still can feel the pains of loss for those who gave it all for a cause that we are all still trying to figure out. I can't let them go - I can't forget their faces and I know until I die they will be there in the back of my head telling me to move forward - to make the best of each day I was given. Not to worry but to move on and go until I just can't do it anymore is what they all say. How can I let them down? There are no words to say how much they all mean to me and that they will never be forgotten.