LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — What's been especially powerful to see in middle Tennessee is all the ways people have chosen to honor Memorial Day. A big name in Nashville songwriting has a tradition on this day.
It was almost night in Lebanon. Donny Kees was keeping a fire going outside his home, sharing a few stories about his life.
"My dad was in the music business, so I was around music very, very early," he said.
Donny's a songwriter. He wrote When Did You Stop Loving Me for George Strait. He's written for Reba McEntire, Kenny Chesney, George Jones, Charley Pride, Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette, and many more.
"I was poppin out songs all the time!" he said.
The story he was sharing on this night takes us back to 1967. It was during the Vietnam War.
"My buddy and I, we went into the Air Force," Donny said. "It was such a dangerous job to fuze bombs."
Donny was also part of a USO show, at one point even opening for Diana Ross.
"My band was hot!" Donny smiled. "It was a great band. They were like brothers, and we were brothers. I just put on the best show I could possibly put on."
Donny said he clearly remembers what it was like coming home.
"Our people, they didn't seem to like that we were in Vietnam, but we didn't have any choice," Donny said. "Disrespect was shown and I don't know if it's ever been cleaned up. Almost 59,000 guys never came home. I was close to a lot of people who didn't come home, and it's really stuck with me."
Donny decided he wanted to do something personal to honor Memorial Day. From day into night, all weekend into Memorial Day, Donny has been keeping that fire outside his home burning. That's including during the pouring rain where he's worked to keep the fire covered.
"It was pretty hard to keep that going," he said. "It's still burnin', y'know."
He's kept it going in the overnight hours in Lebanon.
"I went in, slept about an hour, came back, had to put more wood on the fire and do it in honor of the people who died in Vietnam," Donny said.
This has become a tradition for Donny.
"This is the twelfth fire," he explained.
He said with these life experiences and as grand as his life has been, burning this fire is a tribute important to him.
"The reason we do Memorial Day is to honor the people who died for us to give us this life we have," said Donny. "It is a way to get people to remember."
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
