Memorial Day Tribute from Native American group Brulé

Paul LaRoche and his group Brulé share this touching Memorial Day Tribute as they have many times over the years.   In setting up this tribute Paul relates this story as told to him during a chance encounter with a veteran American Indian elder.  "He said, Paul, today there are over 550 recognized tribes, and if we brought them all together for just a moment, we'd still be the smallest of the minorities here in America. He paused for just a minute. In the final part of the story, the conclusion, there was a statistic in there, and one I had never heard before. It really caught me by surprise, I'll tell you that. I've checked it out. I find it to be authentic and valid to this day, 17 years later. What he had said was, even though we are the smallest of the minorities, we still have the largest number of men and women per capita, the largest number of men and women, per capita, that enter the military and armed services every year. He was proud to pass this along. And it was then that I realized that the warrior spirit still runs through the hearts of the people and the pride and love for this country, our home, still runs very high and very strong.   There was an honoring several times that weekend that took place that had such an impact on my family and I. I made a personal commitment that whenever given the opportunity later in life I would provide such a recognition. Never did I realize that we'd be here 17 years later and be able to provide this recognition hundreds, thousands of times, actually. I've seen this honoring many times here in Branson and at these theaters, and perhaps this evening, this will be the first time that we provide this honoring in the traditional Native American way to all servicemen and women, veterans, wounded and fallen warriors. Translated, the song we simply call, Soldier Boy."