This song, “Before You Go,” will be performed today at the National Celebration of Veteran's Day, 2009 at the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. The song's authors Dr. Sam Bierstock and John Melnick have received the honor.
The "Before You Go" project now has a formal affiliation with "Veterans Helping Today's Returning Heroes", designed to directly benefit our returning heroes. Veterans Helping Today's Returning Heroes (VHH) is a charitable 501(c)3 organization providing support dogs and guide dogs to wounded, blinded and disabled veterans returning from the global war on terror. These dogs cost between $35,000.00 and $50,000.00 to raise and train, and are not funded by the government. To date, VHH has raised over $2,000,000.00 toward this worthy cause which allows our veterans disabled in war to enhance their quality of life with honor and the companionship of one of these wonderful dogs, each of which is trained to support the specific disability of each wounded veteran.
For that reason, Sam and John do not allow websites to post embedded videos of their song, so that purchases will be made at their site, and part of the funds go to VHH.
But, they do allow you to visit their site and see the videos for free that they’ve made to accompany the song.
For the WWII and Korean War version, click here.
For the Vietnam War version, click here.
Here’s some of the national TV features that have been made about this song-writing duo, how they came to do this, and why. As one says, “we’d have nothing without them,” our veterans. “Thank you, before you go.”
Here’s the letter President Bush and wife Barbara sent Sam Bierstock, and the “tears in our eyes.”:
