“That morning was any normal morning,” says Lori Wyatt, whose husband, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, lost his life in the July 16 attack in Chattanooga. “He got up, gave me a kiss, he left. He was running late like any normal morning.”
In honor of Memorial Day, WUTC created a program featuring segments from Operation Song, a Nashville based nonprofit that empowers veterans, active duty military, and their families to share their stories through songwriting. The Operation Song Memorial Day Special is an hour of music and interviews about unforgettable experiences on the battlefield and back home. Several veterans collaborated with hit songwriters to create the music.
The program features interviews with the nonprofit’s creator, the songwriters who work with our country’s heroes to put their stories to song, and those heroes or loved ones sharing their memories. Lori Wyatt partnered with Nashville songwriters Don Goodman and Steve Dean to create ‘Chattanooga Rain’ in honor of her late husband.
“‘Chattanooga Rain’ represents the tears we’ve all shed over this. The town where my family, my friends, all of us, we drove in the procession. And I remember this one woman, she saw me and when she saw me she reached out and was weeping. These people were crying just as hard as we were over this loss,” Wyatt explains.
If you missed the original air of Operation Song Memorial Day, you can still catch it on WUTC’s website here.
