{"id":1310651,"date":"2019-05-23T23:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T05:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1795391"},"modified":"2019-05-23T23:00:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T05:00:38","slug":"a-21-song-salute-to-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/a-21-song-salute-to-memorial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A 21-Song Salute to Memorial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:652400?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">13h ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>Country music has always been gung-ho about soldiers. This was especially true during World War II when the country seemed united in a common cause. Subsequent wars were less unifying and less musically inspiring, although the country songs that grew out of them continued to be unwaveringly \u201cpatriotic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The following 21 \u201csoldier songs\u201d span a period of 64 years, during which the American military went from being racially segregated and depending on draftees to relying entirely on volunteers and striving for racial and sexual diversity.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the war, though, the concerns of the soldiers and the themes honoring them have been the same \u2014 fear, loneliness, fatalism, camaraderie, missing home, losing sweethearts and finding disappointment after returning home.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a representative sampling from that musical military grab bag.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WORLD WAR II<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"listicle-container\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cThis Is the Army, Mr. Jones,\u201d Irving Berlin, 1943<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>OK, so Irving Berlin wasn\u2019t a country singer or songwriter, but he still tapped into that persistent country theme in which rich folks are pulled down from their high horses and made to experience the world as we commoners do. Now hear this: \u201cThis is the Army, Mr. Jones\/no private rooms or telephones\/You had your breakfast in bed before\/but you won\u2019t have it there anymore.\u201d <em>Writer: Berlin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cSoldier\u2019s Last Letter,\u201d Ernest Tubb, 1944<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>One of the most aggressively heartbreaking songs to emerge from the war. It visualizes a mother\u2019s delight in receiving a letter from her son written just before he goes into battle. He promises to finish it when he returns. But it comes to her unfinished and unsigned. The most poignant part of the letter reads, \u201cI\u2019m writing this down in a trench, Mom\/don\u2019t scold if it isn\u2019t so neat\/you know as you did when I was a kid\/and I\u2019d come home with mud on my feet.\u201d How\u2019s that for a life-time guilt trip (See \u201cIf You\u2019re Reading This\u201d and \u201cRiding With Private Malone\u201d below.)? <em>Writers: Henry Stewart, Tubb<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cSearching for a Soldier\u2019s Grave,\u201d Bailes Brothers, 1945<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Covered by everyone from Hank Williams to Bob Dylan, this story is told in the voice of an American parent who crosses the Atlantic to discover where his or her soldier son is buried. \u201cLike many others, my loved one was killed in action\/That\u2019s why I\u2019m here; I\u2019m searching for his grave.\u201d The Bailes Brothers recorded the song the same year World War II came to an end. <em>Writer: Roy Acuff (but it was more likely a creation of Jack or Jim Anglin who sometimes sold Acuff songs)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cSilver Dew on the Bluegrass Tonight,\u201d Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, 1945<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Here a Kentucky girl wishes her \u201csoldier boy\u201d were safe at home to appreciate its nocturnal beauty\u2014and her. <em>Writer: Ed Burt<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cWhite Cross on Okinawa,\u201d Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, 1945<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>More than 12,500 American soldiers were killed on the island of Okinawa by Japanese forces in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The song says, \u201cThere\u2019s a white cross tonight on Okinawa\/and a gold star in some mother\u2019s home.\u201d Families who lost sons in the war were awarded gold stars, which they often displayed in their windows. <em>Writer: Bob Wills<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cAt Mail Call Today,\u201d Gene Autry, 1945<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>A battle-weary soldier gets a letter from his one-time sweetheart saying she won\u2019t be waiting for him when\u2014and if\u2014he returns home (See \u201cA Dear John Letter\u201d below.). <em>Writers: Autry, Fred Rose<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cWhen a Soldier Knocks and Finds Nobody Home,\u201d Moon Mullican and the Showboys, 1946<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>The title tells it all: \u201cWhen I sailed across the blue\/I thought I could count on you\/But I\u2019ve come back home sweetheart to find you gone.\u201d <em>Writers: Lou Wayne, Moon Mullican and Ernest Tubb<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cNo Vacancy,\u201d Merle Travis, 1946<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Despite the blessings of peace-time, many soldiers returning from World War II couldn\u2019t find places to live and start their families. As he so often did, Merle Travis pointed his finger at the problem with sharpshooter precision: \u201cNot so long ago when the bullets screamed\/many were the happy dreams I dreamed\/of a little nest where I could rest when the world was free\/Now the mighty war over there is won\/troubles and trials have just begun\/facing that terrible enemy sign: No Vacancy.\u201d <em>Writer: Merle Travis<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cBallad of Ira Hayes\u201d Johnny Cash, 1964<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian, who, despite the decimation of his tribal lands, joined the Marines and was sent to fight the Japanese. In the horrendous Battle of Iwo Jima, he was one of the Marines shown in the iconic photograph of raising the American flag once the battle was over. After returning home and feeling unappreciated for his sacrifices, Hayes became an alcoholic and died drunk in a ditch. Besides Cash, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt have recorded this song. <em>Writer: Peter LaFarge<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>KOREAN WAR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"listicle-container\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cGod Please Protect America\u201d Jimmie Osborne, 1950<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>By the mid-1950s, America was at war again, this time in the divided nation of Korea. As American wars so often do, this one took on a theological tone. Here Osborne entreats: \u201cOh people let\u2019s start prayin\u2019 as we never prayed before\/we need the hand of God to lead us through this war\/Give us victory in Korea and save our boys so fine\/God please protect America in this troubled time.\u201d <em>Writer: Jimmie Osborne<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cWeapon of Prayer,\u201d The Louvin Brothers, 1951<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>The Louvins picked up the God-on-our-side chant: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a soldier in a uniform\/to be of service over there\/While our boys so bravely stand\/with the weapons made by hand\/let us trust and use the weapon of prayer.\u201d <em>Writers: Charlie and Ira Louvin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cMissing in Action,\u201d Ernest Tubb, 1952<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>In this saga, a soldier who\u2019s been wounded in battle is taken prisoner. He finally escapes and returns to the home he had built for himself and his wife. There he finds a picture of his wife in a wedding gown beside another man\u2014and a letter that declares him \u201cmissing in action.\u201d Thinking he was dead, his wife has remarried. He does the noble thing and walks away: \u201cA vagabond dreamer forever I\u2019ll roam\/because there was no one to welcome me home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cA Dear John Letter,\u201d Jean Shepard and Ferlin Husky, 1953<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Another GI bites the dust. The letter from his sweetheart John has so eagerly awaited brings him the news that she doesn\u2019t love him anymore and is going to marry someone else. As a matter of fact\u2014and a rhyming convenience\u2014the guy she\u2019s marrying is John\u2019s brother Don. This song did not coin the term \u201cDear John Letter,\u201d though. It was used among soldiers at least as early as 1944, according to Wikipedia. In some regions of the country, these missives used to be called \u201cquittin\u2019 letters.\u201d Outrageously manipulative and obvious, this tune is more likely to make you smirk than cry (See \u201cAt Mail Call Today\u201d above.). <em>Writers: Fuzzy Owen, Lewis Tally<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>VIETNAM WAR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"listicle-container\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cHello, Vietnam,\u201d Johnnie Wright, 1965<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>By the mid-1960s, the country was enmeshed in the Vietnam conflict. Young men were being drafted into service by the tens of thousands, and an anti-war movement was blossoming. But still viewing the war as a noble effort, Tom T. Hall wrote this flag-waving ditty. It was snatched up by Johnny Wright, the husband of country queen Kitty Wells and the surviving half of the popular 1950s duo, Johnnie &amp; Jack. It was Hall\u2019s first No. 1 as a songwriter and Wright\u2019s only chart-topper as a solo act. Among the song\u2019s dark\u2014and ultimately defective\u2014prophecies: \u201cWe must stop communism in that land\/or freedom will start slipping through our hands.\u201d <em>Writer: Tom T. Hall<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cBallad of the Green Berets,\u201d Barry Sadler, 1966<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>This song was a pop and an adult contemporary hit for five weeks, and it also rose to No. 2 on the country charts. It begins by extolling the courage and singularity of the Green Berets in general and then concludes with a verse about a particular Green Beret who dies in battle and whose dying wish that his son be raised to wear the Berets\u2019 silver wings. <em>Writers: Robin Moore, Sadler<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cRiding With Private Malone,\u201d David Ball, 2001<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Here we have a three-fer\u2014a soldier song a car song and a ghost song. A man \u201cjust out of the service\u201d sees a classified ad offering an \u201cold Chevy\u201d for sale. To his delight, he discovers it\u2019s a 1966 Corvette that\u2019s been stored away for 30 years. In the glove box, he finds a note from its original owner, \u201cPrivate Andrew Malone,\u201d that says \u201cif you\u2019re reading this then I didn\u2019t make it home.\u201d Where the story goes from there, you\u2019ll have to discover for yourself. But it\u2019s great story (See Tim McGraw\u2019s \u201cIf You\u2019re Reading This\u201d below.). <em>Writers: Wood Newton, Tom Sheperd<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cOne Tin Soldier,\u201d Skeeter Davis, 1972<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>This may be the only war protest song ever to make the country charts\u2014but it went only to No. 54. Moreover, it was an allegory of good vs. evil and not a direct reference to Vietnam. From the movie The Legend of Billy Jack, it did somewhat better on the pop charts\u2014where it appeared in three different incarnations\u2014but it was not a substantial hit. Davis was something of a maverick in country music. In 1973, the deeply religious singer was suspended from the Grand Ole Opry for more than a year for criticizing the Nashville Police Department during her Opry segment for arresting some \u201cJesus freaks\u201d who had been demonstrating at a local mall. <em>Writers: Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cStill in Saigon,\u201d Charlie Daniels Band, 1982<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>This song takes the form of a veteran\u2019s first-person reminiscences of his time on the battlefields of Vietnam and of the PTSD that still haunts him. <em>Writer: Dan Daley<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>WARS WITHOUT NAMES<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"listicle-container\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cAmerican Soldier,\u201d Toby Keith, 2003<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Now that America has an all-volunteer army, soldiering is as much a job as it is an urgent feeling of duty. But the soldier Keith gives voice to here regards himself principally as a patriot: \u201cI don\u2019t do it for the money, there\u2019s bills that I can\u2019t pay\/I don\u2019t do it for the glory, I just do it anyway.\u201d <em>Writers: Chuck Cannon and Keith<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cLetters From Home,\u201d John Michael Montgomery, 2004<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>In this age of transcontinental email, physical letters may seem a bit anachronistic; but in this song the storyteller shares with his buddies his handwritten letters from his mom, sweetheart and dad\u2014and each one gives them a cherished respite from battle. \u201cI fold it up and put it in my shirt\/pick up my gun and get back to work\/but it keeps me drivin\u2019 on\/waitin\u2019 on letters from home.\u201d Some things never change. <em>Writers: Tony Lane, David Lee<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">\u201cIf You\u2019re Reading This,\u201d Tim McGraw, 2007<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>This picks up the theme prominent in \u201cSoldier\u2019s Last Letter\u201d and \u201cDriving With Private Malone\u201d\u2014the words of a dead warrior reaching across time and space. \u201cSo lay me down in that open field out on the edge of town\/and know my soul is where my momma always prayed that it would go\/If you\u2019re reading this I\u2019m already home.\u201d <em>Writers: McGraw, Brad and Brett Warren<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1795391\/a-21-song-salute-to-memorial-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 13h ago Country music has always been gung-ho about soldiers. This was especially true during World War II when the country seemed united in a common cause. Subsequent wars were less unifying and less musically inspiring, although the country songs that grew out of them continued to be unwaveringly \u201cpatriotic.\u201d The following [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 14:30:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}