A Marine's "God Bless America" ends in a salute

Name: A Marine's "God Bless America" ends in a salute
Uploaded: 2013-10-25T20:21:00Z
Duration: 2 min 7 s
Description: At Fenway Park, the announcer says the real heroes in the park tonight are the service members and veterans at the game. A retired Marine sergeant is about to sing.

At Fenway Park, the announcer says the real heroes in the park tonight are the service members and veterans at the game. A retired Marine sergeant is about to sing. more

Their tickets came courtesy of Bank of America. The rest of the crowd is asked to sing along and wave their flags, and the bank will give $1 to military nonprofits for every person in the park, up to $1 million. Then the public address announcer welcomes retired United States Marine Sergeant Dan Clark for "God Bless America."

Men in ceremonial dress uniforms applaud with their hands raised. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Service members and veterans are the guests of honor before the song begins.

The song goes back a long way. Irving Berlin first wrote it as a prayer during World War I. He brought it back twenty years later as a peace song, and Kate Smith introduced it on her radio show on Armistice Day.

"God bless America, land that I love," Clark begins, and his rich voice fills the ballpark. He carries it through "from the mountains to the prairies" and into the two closing rounds of "my home sweet home." Plenty of listeners single out that voice, and several say it gave them chills. A couple admit to tears.

Then comes the part many people remember. As the song ends, Clark snaps into a salute. One listener says that is exactly when the goosebumps hit, and another just loves how fired up he is.

An adult male marine saluting in Fenway Park during a spring or summer baseball game with a large crowd of spectators in the background. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — At Fenway Park, the announcer says the real heroes in the park tonight are the service members and veterans at the game.

Once isn't enough for some. One fan says they have watched it at least 50 times, and another, who says they were in the park that night, calls it probably the greatest thing they have ever seen.