Soap Box

*NOTE* I had hoped to write something personal today, but the day got away from me, so instead, I'm sharing a speech I gave on Saturday at the Charlie Daniels Honoring Hour Heroes Day in Mt. Juliet. It was an honor to be there representing my family, and to see all the folks who showed up to pay tribute to dad, and to our veterans, law enforcement and first responders. - CD, Jr.

Thank you.

To quote a certain long haired country boy and Simple Man, “Ain’t it good to be alive, and be in Tennessee!”

First of all, I want to thank everyone in the City of Mt. Juliet and everyone who has been praying for my mom and I. We have needed and still need every single prayer.

Mom, dad and I moved to Mt. Juliet in 1972. I went to Mt. Juliet schools from 1st grade, all the way to high school, so I love this town.

Dad always said he was from Mt. Juliet, TN, even when we moved out to Gladeville, so our ties in this area run deep.

It goes without saying that this year has been rough for my mom and I, along with everybody else in the CDB family.

I saw an amazing outpouring of love from this town from the day he “changed addresses” as my friend, Bill Wolfenbarger has called it, to the day of his funeral, and even in the weeks and months after.

This is a wonderful town which has grown at an astounding rate in the last few years. Dad used to say that if you brought Homer Tomlinson back to life and dropped him in the middle of Providence today, he would have no idea where he was.

Dad had strong opinions, and if you followed him on Twitter, you knew where he stood.

I used to jokingly say that if dad would stop holding back and say how he really feels, he could really go places.

Several things were obvious about my dad.

He loved our military.

Dad grew up in North Carolina, all over the place, but was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and lived there off and on over the years.

Wilmington was also a main port for shipping, and from time to time, he said you could see lights from burning ships that had been targeted by German U-Boats off in the distance

He told the story of how when he was seven years old, my grandparents took him to church to pray for our troops one morning, but it wasn’t a Sunday, it was a Tuesday,

June 6, 1944.

D-Day.

He said that it was then that he realized that only two things protect America, “the Grace of Almighty God, and the United States military.”

That always stuck with him.

He also loved our men and women in law enforcement.

Every day for many years, dad tweeted “Pray for the blue!”

He also had a tremendous amount of respect for our first responders, EMTs and firefighters.

He would have loved that so many of these brave heroes were being honored today.

On behalf of the Daniels, and extended CDB families, I want to thank each and every one of you for what you do.

And...

We may... we may...

have some good news about something to honor dad right here in Mt. Juliet.

How does a possible Charlie Daniels museum sound?

Hopefully, we’ll be able to make something official soon, but everybody seems to want to do it, so we’ll see.

Thank you, everybody!

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police, our country and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America!