Boundless Gratitude: Songs of the month

Pensacola

(Boundless Gratitude)

This song, released in April of this year on the Acoustic Nectar CD is autobiographical. Lots of memories. Lots of nostalgia. Looking back at my own life, a full generation ago. Reflecting on all that has happened since. Written to mark the passing of a mentor, who I literally cannot remember without smiling broadly out of heartfelt good humor and a strong sense of pride. As a side note, I need to add that my memories and depiction of military service would no doubt be a lot less lyrical if my service had been under combat conditions, which it was not. So the song stands, not as a political comment in these troubled times, but as a collection of fond memories and a personal tribute to someone for whom I'll always have a lot of respect.

Three decades ago, on white sands in Pensacola
I dressed up in an ice cream suit and fell
Into the dark brown eyes of a Jamaican girl
I climbed into the clear blue sky above a deep blue ocean
Where I and fellow wide eyed wonders, learned to fly

Chorus:
Aviation officer candidate school class 15-76
Was also known as Gunny Wittstruck’s Zoo Crew
A colorful cast of characters
With dreams haze grey and underway
Of Uncle Sam’s brown-shoe Navy
They say Navy wings are made of gold
And Air Force wings are made of lead
They also say old soldiers never die
Our Marine D.I. will live forever in full color
And unlike those old Army guys, won’t ever fade away.

Thirty one years later, the last class leaves Pensacola
And at our reunion I fell under the
Nostalgic spell of old camaraderie
The magic of that moment also paved the way for sadness
The Gunny had a cancer that the doctors couldn’t treat.

Chorus

“No guts, no glory,” Gunny laughs, like darkly rumbling thunder
A welcome and a warning that still quickens
My heartbeat
I’ve stepped out of the box, protesting war, wearing dreadlocks
But you know, the way I see it, I’m still serving my country.

Chorus