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A Veterans' Lament

Composers Notes

On September 11th, 2001 I was in Vietnam for a performance of my Symphony For The Sons of Nam by the Ho Chi Minh Symphony Orchestra. While waiting in a Saigon Hotel, the TV displayed the destruction of the World Trade Centers. I immediately called home and made plans to return to Carol and Becky.

Once back in Chicago I took a stroll along the Lake, as water has always soothe my soul, and contemplated where we were heading as a country.
In 2003 we began a new aggressive conflict that sent our young men and women into battle. As with Vietnam, those young souls who were fortunate to returned home had wounds and trauma that we can never truly comprehend.

As a veteran, I have an unbreakable bond with all military veterans as brothers and sisters in arms. We have all contributed to life that we live today.

I have a deep sadness for my fellow veterans who did not make it back from the battlefield. I wrote this last chapter in memoriam as a sat looking out at Lake Michigan and realizing how truly lucky I was to have returned from war while so many of my brothers and sisters in arms gave the ultimate sacrifice.

I truly mourn those lives lost in service to our way of life.