Memorial Day 2025: We must always share our heroes' stories
From belting out "Time is On My Side" by the Rolling Stones in my dad's old Bronco, to writing my first song at 14, about trouble with girls, music has always been in my life. That first song wasn't great, but it made me feel better and taught me to use music to heal and tell difficult stories.
As a first-generation American, I was raised to love this country and understand how lucky I was to live here. When the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001, I did too. I joined the United States Marine Corps two years later, just after my 18th birthday.
Music came with me to Iraq. I made up songs to make my buddies laugh and would play guitar at night around the smoke pit. I wasn't thinking about morale or mental health; I just liked how it made me feel to play music for my friends.
Then, on Oct. 31, 2004, an IED (improvised explosive device) struck my vehicle for the seventh time, shattering my leg. I woke up a week later in Maryland, with my life forever changed. The doctors didn't know if I'd survive and, if I did, whether I'd ever walk again.
Through it all, music was there.
More: How these veterans are using music to win the fight against PTSD
Studies show that music-based interventions can reduce pain and ease emotional distress. I learned this for myself when doctors ultimately had to amputate my leg. I was too weak to play guitar but found comfort just having it near me. Something about listening to the beachy rhythm of "Old Blue Chair" by Kenny Chesney helped me manage unbearable phantom limb pain.
When I moved to Nashville a year later to chase my dream of making music, I was both thrilled and deeply depressed. I smiled through it, drank a lot, and wrote songs about everything but Iraq.
I thought writing about my brothers who didn't come home would cheapen their memory. I didn't yet understand that it is the responsibility of the living to tell our heroes' stories.
When a Vietnam War veteran shook my hand one day, looked me in the eye, and said, 'Thanks for your service. Welcome home. You're a hero,' it hit me like a punch to the gut.
Opinion: On Memorial Day, celebrate the memory of those we lost who let Americans live
It meant a lot coming from someone who had been to war and was then treated so poorly when he returned home. But I couldn't help but think, How could he call me a hero?
The soldier who don't come home, who don't get second chances. They're the real heroes. And I knew it was time for me to write about them.
I went home that day and put my response in a song titled "Heroes."
A Wounded Warrior Project® poll shows a declining rate of Americans who understand the issues impacting those who have served our country. It's up to all of us to tell the stories of the heroes who didn't make it home and of the veterans living with the guilt of surviving.
I've seen what a grateful nation looks like right here in Middle Tennessee. When I performed Heroes at the Grand Ole Opry last Memorial Day weekend, I heard it. This Memorial Day, I hope other veterans will see, hear, and feel that support, too.
Sal Gonzalez is a Nashville musician and songwriter, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and Wounded Warrior Project spokesperson. This op-ed is written in loving memory of Sal's heroes: Matt Lynch, Sean Langley, Andrew Halverson, and the 12 other Marines of 2nd Battalion 5th killed in action during our tour of duty.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Memorial Day 2025: We must always share our heroes' stories | Opinion
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