Big & Rich pay tribute to Vietnam vets

By Phyllis Stark

NASHVILLE (Billboard) – Last year Big & Rich found
themselves crouching by a hole they had dug in Vietnam,
drinking shots of Crown Royal, then throwing the shot glasses
on top of a pair of bloody combat boots already nestled in the
ground.

For the country music duo, it was the culmination of a
documentary they were filming based on a song they had written,
“The 8th of November.” For their friend Niles Harris, crouching
and drinking with them at what had been the scene of a
devastating jungle battle 40 years earlier, it was much more.

On November 8, 1965, a then-19-year-old Harris and his
colleagues in the Army’s 173rd Airborne engaged in a bloody
firefight on that very spot. The battle left 48 American
soldiers dead, and Harris and hundreds of others badly injured.

From that point on, every November 8 Harris has dressed in
a suit and gone out to have a steak dinner and a few drinks to
toast his fallen comrades.

In 2002, John Rich and Big Kenny — who had not yet been
unleashed on the country music world as Big & Rich — traveled
to Deadwood, S.D., to do some songwriting. There, they met
Harris, a local bartender with a poignant tale to tell.

Rich says Harris’ story struck a chord with him and Kenny,
reminding them that for these American veterans, such
experiences “stick with them and, in a lot of cases, are
debilitating.”

The story inspired the duo to pen “The 8th of November,”
included on Big & Rich’s current CD, “Comin’ to Your City.”

“We wanted to write a song that commemorated our friend
Niles but would also commemorate all of our veterans
everywhere,” Rich says. “It was our chance to say, ‘Thanks.’
It’s all about reverence and respect.”

JOURNEY TO THE PAST

But after writing and recording the song, they still were
not done with the story, eventually hatching a plan to travel
with Harris and a film crew to Vietnam. Harris was to bury the
boots that were cut off his feet after the battle, which Rich
calls “the most horrific day of his life.” The boots had been
hanging in his garage for decades.

They hired a scout in Vietnam who spent several months
trying to pinpoint the exact location of the November 8 battle.
Once it was identified, Rich, Kenny, Harris and three others
obtained their visas, boarded a plane and traveled across 18
time zones to get there, where they hooked up with a local film
crew.

The duo initially self-financed the project, although its
label, Warner Bros. Nashville, later split the costs, according
to Rich. But he insists that’s an unimportant detail.

“It was such a personal thing for us, we couldn’t expect
anybody else to pay for it,” he says.

The resulting hour-long DVD is, by turns, quite funny and
deeply moving. It includes an interview with the spy who
exposed the location of the American troops to the North
Vietnamese army 40 years earlier, sparking the battle Harris
has never quite gotten over.

“We wanted the documentary to be a catalyst for healing for
these Vietnam veterans” who got less than a hero’s welcome on
their return home, Rich says. “We wanted it to be seen by
millions of people and provide some healing for these guys (to)
let them know they’re not forgotten.”

This year, Procter & Gamble’s Prilosec OTC is sponsoring
the Big & Rich tour. After seeing the documentary, P&G
executives extended that partnership, with P&G paying to press
1.2 million copies of the DVD. Throughout July, it will be
packaged as a free giveaway with the heartburn medication at
retail locations.

The documentary made its TV debut July 1 on GAC. A
mini-documentary video and digital booklet, packaged with the
“8th of November” single and music video, is available as an
exclusive at iTunes during July.

Ultimately, Rich says, he hopes the video has such an
impact that it will inspire someone to stage a very belated
homecoming parade for Vietnam vets. “That’s the ultimate dream
for us.

“Kenny and I consider this the most important piece of
music we’ve ever been a part of.”

Reuters/Billboard