bertram31.com

I received this email this AM from my son-in-law.. A real surprise!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vet of the year award, surprise!

Many people may have forgot about his time in the U.S.Army. He is the son of an Air Force General, and a accomplished Golden Gloves boxer, and he graduated from Pomona College with a B.S. degree, and then became a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University.He joined the U.S. Army at the prompting of his father.

After graduating from Officer Candidate School he attended and graduated from both Army Airborne and Ranger training in the very top of each class. He was selected for U. S. Army Special Forces Training but refused so that he could attend pilot training where he earned his wings, and became an accomplished U.S. Army helicopter (gun ship) pilot, and achieved the rank of Captain.

He was about to be promoted to the rank of Major, and appointed to teach at West Point when he resigned his commission from the Army to go into music and acting. You can tell in this video that his time in the military means a lot to him.

I won’t give away who it is. You should just watch. I bet you will be surprised!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU-A7eqa ... re=related

Surprised?

Wow,

Very surprised!

Back when he was an "unknown" trying to break into the music business, he had written a song that he thought was perfect for Johnny Cash to record, but he couldn't get Cash (or anyone else) to return his phone calls. So, while on duty during a training flight in an Army or ANG helicopter, he flew to and landed on Cash's estate grounds outside of Nashville. Rosanne told Johnny that an army helicopter had landed in their yard, and when Cash went out to investigate, the pilot introduced himself and handed him the words and melody to a song. Cash was so amazed that the guy had the balls to pull off that stunt in a military aircraft that he recorded the song. They were good friends til Cash's death. I saw Johnny Cash share the story on camera!

That would be CMA's 1970 Song of the Year: "Sunday Morning Coming Down"

<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_RLiuPRMJy8?ve ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_RLiuPRMJy8?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Made my day!

great story....but the comments don't agree.

Suprised? How about Shocked!
A impresive award given to an outstanding Vet.
Well chosen. Ya just never know!