By Dennis Kaiser
Leisure World resident Joe Tucky never served in the military, but he says he feels a deep sense of gratitude for United States service men and women who put their lives on the line to protect their country.
“I didn’t get drafted for the Vietnam War because I was already married with four children when it heated up,” he said. “I have always had the greatest respect for those that do serve in our armed forces. In the past I have tried to do small things to show my support for them.”
A lot of that respect came out of Tucky watching news reports about our current military volunteers, working with civilians in the war-torn region of the world. It made him feel as though he had never done enough to show what he felt in his heart.
“I was particularly impressed with seeing our soldiers caring for small children in the war zones and also crying at times,” he said.
Then one morning Tucky woke up in his bed in the middle of the night with music on his mind.
“I had what you might call a vision,” he said. “I had a complete song in my head.”
The song eventually became Tucky’s masterpiece—thus far. T’s song is titled “A Salute,” and honors the American soldier past and present.
Tucky had often dabbled with writing down his dreams and kept a pad and pencil next to his bed.
“I wrote down the words to an entire song right then,” he said. “I showed the ‘song’ to a couple of female friends and they both became tearful. They said ‘Joe,’ you have to do something with it, because it expressed a sentiment many people feel.”
Tucky went to a professional recording studio (Studio 770 in Brea) and worked with the owners Joe and Shantih Haast to create a CD of the song. He had written the music in a country style by picking out the tune on a guitar. Then he hired professional musicians and a singer named Sam Morrison to record the song.
“I remember interviewing Sam and realizing that his voice was just perfect for the song,” Tucky said. “He has kind of a Bob Seger quality to his voice.”
Tucky spent a few thousand dollars to produce the master CD of the song and print a supply of copies. “I think it came out pretty well,” he said.
The song was played on the Dr. Laura radio show a couple of years ago and also had a write-up in the “Orange Coast Magazine” December 2007 edition.
Tucky’s next step was to get the song out to the public – both military and civilian folks. Eventually he teamed up with Grace Community Church of Seal Beach’s Support Our Troops project that sends phone cards and other essential items in care packages and greeting cards to the United States’ military people stationed overseas and fighting in wars.
Tucky has since worked on “the front lines” of the organization’s outreach events to raise money for military service people and awareness of their needs. He found himself bringing a supply of his CD to their events and hand them out to people as they visited the Support Our Troops booth.
“I usually sell the CD’s for $5 each and donate most of that for our service people,” Tucky said.
Some of the funds, he said, are reserved to print more copies and for the production costs—about $1 per copy, depending on how many copies are made
“When I am at events I often hand them out for free,” he said. “Usually we get donations of about $1. When I give out the CDs we suddenly start seeing $20 bills being put into the donation jar.”
Tucky, who describes himself as a restless soul who must keep busy—despite the fact that he is retired, has a handful of other projects that keep him busy.
One is working with his Solar Solutions company, an anti-cigarette smoking project and as a broker and realtor through Good Homes Real Estate & Mortgage company.
Joe Tucky can be contacted at (877) 723-7280, or at JoeTucky_1999@yahoo.com.
The following is an excerpt of the words to “A Salute.”
Well, I’m a country singer,
And this is a country song,
So if you don’t want to listen,
Why don’t you just move along.
I wasn’t in the service.
I didn’t have to pay.
I grew up between the wars
I guess my lucky day.
But I salute the American soldier.
And his sacrifice today.
So if you want to listen,
This is what I say.
Can a man be a man and be tender?
Can a man be a man and still cry?
Can a man be that man and a soldier?
Can a man watch another man die?
There’s a time when a man must take action,
A time when a man just can’t hide,
A time when a man does his duty,
And sometimes when that happens he cries.
That man’s the American soldier,
That man represents you and I.
That man’s the American soldier,
Without him our dreams would just die.
