Van of Valor

Riding on Promises

(Music begins with a lone, clean electric guitar picking a melancholic, open-road melody. A soft, steady kick drum enters, like the heartbeat of the van.)

(Verse 1)

Georgia pines blur to a sun-bleached plain

A sky like an ocean, a cleansing rain

On a mural of names, rolling side to side

South from Waycross, with a purpose inside

To a suburban door where the decades meet

In the humid stillness, the stories beat

A jungle’s grip in an old Marine’s eyes

And a mountain’s shadow where a new warrior lies

From Khe Sanh’s echo to the IED’s blast

Carrying the future, and carrying the past

(Chorus)

Oh, we ride on the wheels of a promise made

Through the sun and the scars, and the debts unpaid

From the Atlantic shine to the Gulf’s gentle blue

We are gathering the brave, and the faithful, and the true

Every mile is a verse, every name is a line

In this Song of Sacrifice, this weary, winding sign

(Verse 2)

A violent thump on the Daytona strip

Hot asphalt smell on a trembling lip

A jagged piece of a forgotten world

And the van shuddered as the tire unfurled

On a scorching shoulder, with the traffic’s roar

A mechanical gash in the mission we bore

A spare tire’s caution, a tightened dread

As we carried the weight of the honored dead

In a Tampa room, a silence so deep

Where a mother’s memory is all she can keep

And the very next morning, a soldier’s fight

With the ghost of a friend in the pale daylight

The living who bear it, the price and the pain

Beside the loved ones who whisper their names

(Chorus)

And we ride on the wheels of a promise made

Through the sun and the scars, and the debts unpaid

From the Gold Star’s grief to the warrior’s trial

Across the sawgrass, each painful mile

Every mile is a verse, every name is a line

In this Song of Sacrifice, this weary, winding sign

(Bridge)

We sought the Gulf’s turquoise, a salt-air cure

And heard a quiet voice, steady and sure

Of a danger that fell from a Southeast Asian sky

A different kind of hell, with a Purple Heart tie

Then north to the home of the infantry

Where a soldier with two Hearts taught us how to see

The cost of the valor, the will to return

To the fire that waits, every lesson you learn

From the Air Force tech, to the Army’s best

The Van bears them all, from the east to the west

(Guitar solo soars over the driving rhythm, echoing landscapes—coastlines, flatlands, cities, pines. It climbs, yearning, then resolves back into the verse melody.)

(Verse 3)

The road loops back to the Georgia clay

The mission’s circle won’t fade away

From Silvers to English, Morrison, Tavera’s pride

Sininger and Holcombe, riding inside

A tapestry stitched with tire-track thread

With tears for the living, and tears for the dead

The flatlands, the blowout, the coast, the rain

Are all part of the chorus, the joy and the pain

(Outro Chorus – Building, anthemic)

And we RIDE on the wheels of a promise MADE!

Through the sun and the scars, and the debts UNPAID!

From the jungle’s heat to the desert’s sand

For the soul of this scarred and beautiful land

Every mile was a verse, every name was a line

In this Song of Sacrifice…

Every story a thread in the design…

This Song of Sacrifice…

This weary, winding, holy sign…

(Music fades, leaving only the hum of the road, then silence.)

This song, written by Dr. Kevin P. Wallace, was made in honor of the following veterans from Florida:

Marine Cpl. Harry Silvers, Vietnam Purple Heart

Marine Sgt. Ingrid English, Afghanistan Purple Heart

Army SPC Donald “Scott” Morrison, KIA Iraq 2010

Army SGT Joel Tavera, KIA Iraq 2007

Air Force MSgt Gus Sininger, Vietnam Purple Heart

Army SSG Kirk Holcombe, Iraq 2 Purple Hearts, Bronze Star w/ Valor