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May 4th and 5th – Days One and Two
Today “we” (Chely Wright and band) depart for Schweinfurt, Germany. She
will be performing at a Welcome Home Celebration for troops that spent the
past year in Iraq. This is a very SPECIAL trip for us. The troops from
one of the camps that I visited twice last year – Camp Summerall – are at
this base in Germany. I specifically requested that I be allowed to bring
entertainment to these men and then prayed real hard that Chely’s schedule
would allow her to be that “entertainment”. This is the camp where she
performed last September and the next day, we learned that one of the young
soldier’s (Josh Henry) we had met the night before was killed in action.
It’s also the soldier that her video “Bumper of My SUV” is dedicated to.
She and I have stayed in touch with his parents and when I learned that we
would be performing in Schweinfurt, I asked permission from USAREUR to allow
Stars for Stripes to cover the expenses of his parents and bring them with
us. USAREUR agreed. It was especially hard for me to call his mom and
make this offer. I did not know if she would be offended or would welcome
this opportunity. I think I totally botched my “presentation” on why we
wanted them to go with us and I left her with, “please think about this and
call me in a couple of weeks when you get back from vacation”. We hung up
and 10 minutes later, my phone rang. She said her husband told her to call
me back and tell me they were definitely going.
No problem checking in at Nashville airport and flying to Atlanta. They
have these little “local” bands that perform in the area right outside where
you go through security. As I was getting our group checked in, I heard a
REALLY FAMILIAR voice. Chely was up on stage, singing “Crazy Arms” with
the band.
When we landed in Atlanta, I had arranged to have Josh’s parents meet us at
the departure gate. Chely was definitely nervous and Josh’s Mom had
expressed the same apprehension. But, it was wonderful once we finally met
them. We can see “Josh” in both parents (Perri and Larry). His mom had
brought Chely and I gifts – beautiful ceramic/clay “angels”. Everyone
knows I could use a guardian angel watching over me!
I am hoping that this trip will help with the healing process for them. I
wanted them to meet the soldiers who spent the last year of their life with
their son. Commander Kyle treated Josh as though he were his own son and I
want the Henry’s to see that in him. As a mother myself, I think this would
be important to me. His parents have also been in touch with a couple of
the soldiers who were Josh’s best friends and I hope that seeing will be a
blessing to them also. His mom had planned to get a tattoo with Josh when
he returned from Iraq. Now she has made plans to get a tattoo at the same
shop where Josh got one of his during his two year deployment in Germany.
Had an “uneventful” flight on Delta Airlines. There were lots of empty
seats in Business Class and I asked if the Henry’s could move up and sit
with us. But the flight attendants wouldn’t allow it. I could NOT sleep.
Just couldn’t shut my brain down. Miserable. Landed early in Frankfurt and
had to call our bus driver to let him know we were waiting. It was about a
2 ½ hour drive from Frankfurt to Schweinfurt and I chatted with our bus
driver who is a long-time friend during the ride over. Nice, beautiful
hotel and once we all got our email working, we were happy. But, it is
“analog”….just dial up through the phone system. Very slow!
I walked over and had lunch in town with the musicians. Beautiful little
town but all the shops were closed because today is a bank holiday. Came
back to the hotel after a really nice “German” lunch, showered, then worked
on email until time to go to sound check. Show will again be held in a
large “fest tent”. Commander Kyle from Camp Summerall and his “wingman”
Steve met us at the venue. Still SO hard to get used to seeing him in
civilian clothes. I’m wearing the Army Ranger jacket that I got from a
soldier and he’s in civilian clothes – quite a switch off. Kyle rode back
to the hotel with me to pick up Chely for sound check and while we were
having a cup of coffee, the Henry’s came in. It was the first time he had
met him and it was a very emotional moment for everyone. I’m glad he met
them today, though, instead of tomorrow morning at the ceremonies. The
Henry’s had a wonderful day today, visiting the base and meeting the
soldiers who served with their son. I am so happy, proud, and honored that
we were able to bring them over with us. Thanks to Chely Wright and sales
from the “Bumper of my SUV”!
After sound check, I went out to dinner to a “German Mexican” restaurant
with Kyle and Steve. The food was actually better than the “Mexican” we get
in Nashville! Now, I’m back in the hotel working again! But, today was
such a wonderful, special day. It’s times like these that I know I wouldn’t
trade my life with anyone else on earth!
Jude
DAY THREE – MAY 6TH
Yesterday, when we went over for sound check, this young soldier walked into
the backstage area and saw me. His eyes got so big and he started
stammering that he just couldn’t believe it and what an honor it was to meet
me and was going on and on. I stopped him mid-sentence and asked him who he
thought I was. He said, “you’re Ms. Wright, of course”. I then asked him
how much I owed him for saying such a flattering thing to an old woman who
can’t come close to competing with Chely’s beauty!
It was raining when I got up to jog so I had to go to the gymnasium in the
hotel. Boy, is that FALSE ADVERTISING. There is a little elliptical
trainer, a small stationary bike and one of those one piece weight machines
that is only halfway functional plus a couple of exercise balls. There were
two other guys in there trying to work out, so it was a challenge to get on
any of the machines….but better than nothing. Chely’s road manager said she
went down there last night. There’s a shower room right before you walk
into the exercise room. Evidently, there was a man in the shower room, butt
naked, and the door was wide open. Gave her a free shot. J
Today was the Opening Ceremonies at the base. Several of us went over with
the Henry’s to watch the event. It was still cold and raining but a very
moving event. All the soldiers had to stand out on the soccer field in the
rain during the entire 2 hour ceremony. Every time I wanted to whine about
my frozen hands and feet, I thought about what they must be going through
and kept my mouth shut!
After the ceremony, we went to the show site for the tapping of the keg.
There were 3 wounded soldiers who had flown in for the event. One of them
was a soldier that was at Walter Reed when Chely and I visited there last
September. We tried to see him, but he was having serious complications
that day. We went back by his room three times, but were never able to see
him and were very worried that he would even survive. We left some
“goodies” for him and told the nurses to be sure and tell him how hard we
had tried to visit him. He’s doing great and has a new little boy – 6
months old. So wonderful to see this. I told him it wasn’t that often
that a man refused to allow me in his bedroom!
After that, we went to Commander Kyle’s conference room for the REALLY hard
part. All the soldiers from Josh’s Company were gathered in the room and
Kyle presented the Henry’s with a bronze star for Josh. Then, all the
soldiers walked around the room and hugged the Henry’s and told them some
memories of Josh. These are the guys who spent the last year of Josh’s life
with him. I can tell you that every single soldier was crying. After all
the times I’ve visited Walter Reed and Bethesda and seen men and women with
legs, arms, eyes, noses, ears, -- you name it -- blown off, I’ve never
once seen a soldier cry. I hope I never do again. I think of how hard this
was for me to witness and my heart goes out to the Henrys. I still pray
that bringing them was the right thing to do. One soldier that was Josh’s
best friend was so pathetic. He began sobbing uncontrollably as soon as the
ceremony began. He’s having such a hard time with this loss. It was
amazing to see Josh’s mother become the comforter rather than the person
being comforted.
Came back to the hotel to work until time to go back for the show. Josh’s
mom got her tattoos! Just tiny ones in black ink down her back. She got
the Chinese symbols for Wisdom, courage, and I think Strength. Can’t
remember because there was too much happening today! She went to the same
tattoo parlor where Josh got his and the girls in there had photos of Josh
hanging on the wall. They remembered him well and told her stories about
when he got the tattoos. They also told them that Josh’s buddy had emailed
them when the accident happened and that they had closed their shop and went
to church to light a candle for him.
I’ve been sitting her staring at the computer screen for almost an hour
trying to write what happened tonight. I don’t think it’s possible to ever
adequately portray in writing what occurred.
We all rode over on the bus together and Chely did an interview with AFN.
She is so great with the camera and you can tell that she speaks from her
heart. The fest tent was packed…probably around 5,000 people I was told.
While she was on stage, one by one, the soldiers who were the closest to
Josh came and found me and every one of them cried in my arms. They were
all thanking me for bringing Josh’s parents over. I tried to tell them that
this was such a small thing compared to the sacrifices they have made. They
are all such fine young men and I can’t imagine how their lives have been
changed at such a young age by the loss of one of their “brothers” and the
circumstance under which they lost him.
I know that my children will always be my greatest accomplishment in life
and the Henry’s have to be so proud of their son. They knew how special he
was in their little home town but don’t think they realized what an impact
he had on the lives of the people around him in Germany and in Iraq. This
was a good thing to bring them over here.
Chely brought them up on stage and introduced them and the tears started
again. Then she brought me up and presented a check to Stars for Stripes
from the sales of “Bumper of my SUV”. Can you say NO makeup left by that
time after spending the day in tears?
I went backstage after the presentation and a young soldier who was another
of Josh’s buddies came over to talk to me. He said that he was at the
presentation of the Bronze Medal and that until Chely went on stage tonight,
he and all the other soldiers at today’s presentation thought I was Chely at
the event today. What a fabulous compliment. I’ll have to tell Chely how
well I’ve filled in for her. When we went to Japan several years ago, the
maids at the hotel kept asking me if I was her mother. I’ve definitely come
a long way, baby! J
It’s almost 3 am and I have to get some sleep. We drive to Frankfurt
tomorrow and fly home on Sunday. It rained all day today and when I got up
and saw the rain, I couldn’t help but think about what my wonderful promoter
in Japan told me about the rain. In October of 2001, we held our 12th
Annual Country Gold Festival in Japan. For the first time in the history of
the event, it poured rain on show day. The promoter went on stage and told
the 25,000 people standing under umbrellas in the audience that every year
he talks to God and God never lets it rain on the day of the festival. He
said that he does not think it was rain that day but that it was tears from
the victims of 9/11 pouring down on us. I wonder if today was not the
same. That Josh’s tears were pouring down on us as he watched over us. God
brings special people into our lives for a reason. Sometimes we don’t
understand the purpose, but ultimately it is revealed to us and our lives
are forever changed. Colonel Kyle, the “boys” at Camp Summerall, Iraq, and
Josh, Perri, and Larry Henry will forever be intertwined in my heart and
life.
Jude
DAY 4 AND 5 - MAY 7 AND 8:
FINALLY, the rain stopped enough that I could jog outside. The
hotel was located right on the river, and there was a great path through the
woods. Only problem I had was DOGS! No one uses a leash and they also
don’t call them back when they chase you. Had to stop several times and
walk to keep from getting attacked. And, no one has a “small” dog….all big
man-eaters. J
We checked out and left for Frankfurt at around 11 am. Chely and her guitar
player had gotten up and departed at 7 am to drive to Frankfurt, then fly to
Amsterdam, perform on a radio show, then train back to Frankfurt. Brutal
schedule because she had, of course, stayed for hours after the show last
night signing autographs. And, by the way, did I mention that her show was
fantastic? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see a lot of it because of being
busy elsewhere but the comments I heard afterwards were the same as I always
here. The audience can tell she is “genuine”. Minnie Pearl taught us,
“Love them and they will love you back”. That was her advice to all
entertainers, young and old, and it certainly works for Chely. Also,
Heather with USAREUR does such a wonderful job of organizing these events
and John and Uwe and their staff from Public Address are always first class
professionals as far as the sound and backline are concerned. Michael
Payne was my POC for this show and I had met him at Kitzingen when I was
there with Richard Marks. He was a real sweetheart and took excellent care
of all the little details in making sure we were taken care of. I met so
many wonderful people that day, many of them who had either seen Chalee and
Danni perform at Camp Summerall in July or had been to Chely’s show. What a
special experience it was to be able to actually welcome them back home.
Kyle said that a statue is being made from various “materials” that they
collected in Iraq (marble from Saddam’s palaces, etc.) and the names of all
nine men that were lost from their Division would be placed on the base of
this. They are going to fly the Henrys and the other family members back
over in June for the dedication. I’m going to make a donation to the cause.
After checking into the hotel by the airport, we took the bus to downtown
Frankfurt. It was pouring rain again by that time. We quickly found a
great Thai restaurant and I treated everyone to a fantastic meal. Michael
Tietze, our bus driver and my dear friend, joined us. He is such a “funny”
guy and entertained us throughout the meal with his anecdotes. I ordered a
glass of the “Applewine”, which Frankfurt is famous for. Of course, I don’t
like the taste of any alcohol, and didn’t like that one either. We passed
it around and it finally landed with Michael. The guys stayed over to shop
and sightsee but the weather was so miserable, I went back to the hotel with
the Henrys. It had also turned really cold and I wasn’t dressed for walking
around outside in the rain. Just as we left the restaurant to walk to the
bus, the wind kicked up and the people who had umbrellas either lost them or
had them turn inside out. We ducked into a shop – great shop by the way.
The only thing that kept me from being really stupid and buying a $500
trench coat, is the fact that I knew I could have it tailor made in Korea
next week for about $100!
Commander Kyle drove down from Schweinfurt to have dinner with me and stayed
overnight at our hotel since he had to go to Heidelburg for meetings the
next day. We took a taxi from the hotel and gave the driver the name of a
restaurant that Michael had recommended. The taxi driver didn’t speak a
word of English and fortunately Kyle knew enough German to get is going. I
called Michael on his cell phone and had him try and give directions. But
Michael only knew the “general” area so the driver pulled over and asked
another taxi where it was. Then he set his GPS. Let me tell you, we got
the TOUR of downtown Frankfurt. We kept telling him to just forget it and
drop us off at the train station but he was DETERMINED to find the place. I
finally called Michael back and he said that he had called the restaurant
and because it’s a small family owned event, it was closed because of the
holiday weekend. So the driver dropped us off in the same area where I had
eaten lunch earlier and we found a great little German restaurant. Great,
except for the smoke. My allergies are killing me because EVERYWHERE
allows smoking.
It’s Spargel season in Germany. I remember this from tours years ago. They
grow this white Asparagus that is only available around the May time period
and it is delicious. But they have spargel soup, spargel with every
imaginable sauce, spargel ravioli, you name it. I just had the regular
spargel and when they brought out my plate, we both looked at it and then
looked at each other and cracked up. It was really large stalks of
asparagus and I don’t think I have to tell you what it looked like. But, it
was fabulous.
The table next to us was celebrating a girl’s birthday and I really enjoyed
watching and listening to them as she opened her gifts. She tried to blow
out her candles and they were the kind that keep relighting. Evidently,
this was the first time she had been tricked like that because she kept
blowing and blowing. Finally, she used her fingers and pinched the flames
on each candle. We walked around the city for a few minutes after the meal
because the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful night. I’ve been to
Frankfurt many times but forgot what great shopping is available. ‘Course
everything was closed by then but it was fun to window shop. Got back to
the hotel much quicker without the “city tour” and went into the SMOKEY
little bar to have a drink with Michael. Clay walked in pretty soon after
we got there and he had just gotten back from Amsterdam. Evidently, they
had quite a few challenges on the trip – delayed flights, wrong hotels – but
said the radio show went great.
We left the bar and were going to watch the Bellamy Brothers’ 25th
Anniversary DVD on Kyle’s computer but Chely was standing at the front desk
when we walked out. She couldn’t get on line. I gave her my wireless card
and called her a few minutes later to see if she had gotten on. But
something was wrong with her computer. I went to her room to try and see if
I could help. Her wireless device was turned off and it would not allow us
to turn it back on. Finally gave up and got her connected through the
telephone line. I was having real problems with my wireless connection
because it kept fading in and out. All afternoon, I would have to go out
into the hallway and download my mail to my filing without opening it
because it wouldn’t allow me to open anything. Then answer it and go back
out into the hall and send it! Chely said she sent me an instant message
but that never even popped up!
We watched the Bellamys’ DVD until the battery died in his computer and he
didn’t have a power cable with him. It was another very “short” night as
far as sleep for me…shortest of the trip…but it was worth it to be able to
spend some time with dear friends who I will not see again for a while.
Got up and drank lots of coffee before we departed for the airport. Pretty
sure I have two cracked ribs from a “bear hug” I got from one of the
soldiers. Had a problem checking in on our flight because Delta was
refusing to allow the guys to carry on their guitars. I have a letter from
the American Musicians Union that states that ALL airlines must allow them
to carry on their instrument. But, Delta wasn’t buying it. They told me
that NONE of the airlines would allow this because it had just been
determined that it was a high security risk. Someone might take the guitar
strings off the guitar and use them to strangle the pilot! No lie. That’s
what they told us. (This, of course, led us to another lively discussion
afterwards about other “security risks” – taking your shoestrings off and
using them to choke the pilot….smashing a bottle of wine and using it as a
weapon….really lots of possibilities if you really think about it.) I
tried to explain that we had just flown over 3 days ago and had not had a
problem. Guess this new “rule” must have come into place since then. Of
course, we can’t really argue because they would just have us removed from
the flight as a security risk. They finally allowed us to take it to the
gate and I had a feeling we would be able to talk the crew down there into
letting them carry it on. They did.
Flew from Frankfurt to JFK where we leave the Henrys and then on to
Nashville. No problems for once getting back to Nashville on time. We had a
BIG tailwind that worked in our favor. Said a tearful goodbye to the Henrys
in NYC. What wonderful people they are!
Jude
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