My name is James F. Purtell, I was a U.S. Army combat medic from 1968 to 1969 and my rank was E-5.

I am a Vietnam veteran and one of my hobbies is songwriting. I receive information from SongU as I'm involved with Songwriters of Wisconsin International, a group that I am one of the founding members. I perused the awards listed in SongU because I wanted to read the titles of the songs because we all know how critical they can be in songwriting. I came upon your song "The Wall" and I was intrigued because I saw it had been considered for a compilation CD honoring Vietnam veterans.

For your information, I was at the ground breaking for the Wall in D.C. I lived in Silver Spring, MD at the time as I worked for the Federal government and I was involved locally in veteran affairs. I watched Senator Warner and several other politicians with Jan Scruggs (whose idea it was for a Vietnam memorial) take shovels and break ground as they posed for photographs. I was also at the Vietnam Veteran memorial for it's grand opening.

I knew several of the names on the wall personally as I served as a combat medic in Vietnam in 1968 - 1969. It was very difficult to locate their names and to see them engraved on black granite, particularly when I know what happened on the day they died. I held one dying veteran, Robert Harris, in my arms as he said over and over again "I love my wife, I love my wife". Reading the names was a very emotional experience for me. While living in the DC area, I visited the wall several times.

I would like to hear your song and I would appreciate any information you could provide regarding the Vietnam Veteran CD compilation. Could you email it to me?

Several years ago, I wrote four songs about the Vietnam Prisoner of War, Missing in Action (POW/MIA) issue, from several different perspectives, as a local filmmaker in Wisconsin was interested in doing a documentary, but it never happened. If you were interested in hearing any of these songs you can go to: www.songwritersofwisconsin.org

in the bio section, my name is mentioned as a founding member. Move to the demos section and my songs are: "The Waiting Goes On", "O' America", "McAleavey's Farm" and "Running Out of Time"...

Mitch - Congratulations, you and Brad, and in her own way Judy, captured the essence of the Vietnam war, our country's reaction to it, and the spirit that lives within the wall and it's grounds in under four minutes. The beauty of this song is it has the potential to be timeless. The song was very well written. The lyrics as I mentioned were very descriptive of the experience. I thought the instrumentation was very good and very appropriate for the material. The singer did an excellent job conveying the meaning behind the lyrics and he presented the material very well. Also, the video was moving. You guys have written a very good song. I hope you have great success with it

To purchase a digital download of "The Wall Song", click on the link in the Band Website section (on the left side of the main page) or cut and paste the following link into your browser:

http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/3208148-Music-Pop

the Spirit Of the Wall
(c) Judy Gorman King


You came to see my name today
I saw you standing there
Man, you sure look different
With that silver in your hair

But me, I haven't changed
I'm still the ripe old age of 21
That's one of the things about us ghosts
We're now and forever young

Do you remember how proud we were
When we were called by Uncle Sam?
And I remember being a little afraid
When they shipped us to Vietnam

And I remember the heat
And the marching through the mud
And the sounds of all that shooting
And the sight of all that blood

Then I remember when it was
Time for us to go home
But I couldn't go
So you made that trip alone

You returned to a country
That couldn't seem to understand
How all the boys that left
Came back a bunch of messed up men

Our country seemed a little naive
Before that mixed up war
Now we never can seem
To get things back the way they were before

Now some of us are just a name
Just a small part of history
But with the building of that wall
It somehow restored our dignity

I saw that there is still pain
Even after all these years
I'm afraid I saw a lot of
in your tears

But this is a wall of love
We hope that's what everyone feels
And the warm spirits of all the ones
That surround "The Wall That Heals"

I saw you had a family
A couple of kids and a pretty wife
Try to forgive the past
And have a happy life

I guess I'll go now
That I seem to have said it all
of me once in a while
The ghost that stays with "The Wall"