Early in 2006, Dr. Lewis Pringle
from Liberty Indiana contacted me. In
the exchange of emails that followed, Dr. Pringle provided valuable insight into the history
of the Pringle family, tracing them back to the lowlands of Scotland
in the 1600's. On March 10, 2008 Dr Pringle contacted me again,
this time with a link to an awesome musical
tribute to WWII Veterans (off
site link) written
by Dr.
Sam Bierstock (“Dr. Sam”) and John Melnick
(off site link) Deeply
moved by this powerful presentation, I quickly added it to the USS
Pringle website and circulated an email to everyone on our
mailing list. Immediately I started receiving very emotional
responses so I decided to sent the creators a note expressing our gratitude.
Everyone should read their reply:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear
Jim,
As you might imagine, we receive many hundreds of emails in response to
“Before You Go”, with as many as 30,000 people per day on our
website, and with the song being played 230,000 times just last week
alone. It is virtually impossible for me to respond each of the emails
that we receive, although I read all of them. We are often forced to
resort to the auto response you will see below.
I wanted to be certain however to respond to yours personally.
It is my honor to have been able to have this message of thanks
reach those, such as yourself and your crewmates, to whom our nation
owes everything that we have, and all of the freedoms that we enjoy.
From the beginning, I have been determined to have “Before You Go”
become a means by which it is assured that your generation’s
contribution to our country and our way of life is never forgotten. To
receive a note on behalf of the surviving members of the USS Pringle is
a profound honor, and I am very grateful to you for having taken the
time to write, and for helping us spread our message of thanks.
I would like you and your crewmates and their families to know
that “Before You Go” is being played in schools all over the country
in conjunction with history classes – and we frequently receive
letters from teachers who tell us that their students often describe how
it has changed the way they view their grandparents and
great-grandparents, who they now view with renewed respect and
appreciation.
Our single biggest frustration has been our failure to engage the
national television media in our quest to have our song reach each and
every member of your generation and their families. But we take great
pride and feel very honored to know that we have reached more than15
million people. We will continue to do our best to be sure that your
generation knows that your sacrifices on our behalf and on behalf of our
freedoms will never be forgotten.
I would be very pleased if you would share this note with your
fellow crewmen and their families.
With best wishes,
Dr. Sam
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you so much for your note. We are pleased and gratified that
our recording has meaning to you - and that we have the opportunity to
express our gratitude.
We use the note below in our email campaign to spread the word about the
song. Please feel free to copy it and send it on to anyone you'd like to
forward it to.
Both Dr. Sam and
John Melnick
are asking people who want to share the song and presentation to do so
via the internet link you have. It is not available in downloadable
format at this time. However, they are very anxious to get their message
out as far and widely as possible so please share the link with whoever
you would like - and even the local radio and TV media sources if
you would like,. Many people have done that, and we are grateful to them
for helping us to get this message out to every surviving veteran of
WW2, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, their families and descendants.
“Before You Go”, CDs, & DVDs can now be ordered at www.beforeyougo.us
– please follow the links to ordering "Before You
Go". The CD and DVD each contain 2 tracks – one with the full
vocal version of the song, and one which is instrumental only for
sing-along . If the CD is played on a computer, the pictorial will show
for each track. The pictorial accompanies both tracks on the DVD.
We thank you again for your note and for your
support. |