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I Am The
American Dreamer

Why I Write Songs for Those Who Served

A song can say thank you in a way a handshake never could.

By John SchembariVietnam Veteran · Songwriter · Author2 min read

I believe music can heal, inspire, and remind us of who we are. That belief is the reason I started writing in the first place, and it is why so much of my music is written for the people who served, and for the families who served right alongside them.

We are good, as a country, at the loud kind of thank you. The parade, the flyover, the handshake on the eleventh of November. Those matter. But there is a quieter debt that does not fit on a banner, and I think a song can reach it in a way a handshake never could.

Every song I write is a way of saying the thing we don't say often enough: thank you, and I remember.

That is why I wrote for the warrior's wife, the spouse who carries the worry, raises the children, and holds a whole life together while her warrior is away. It is why I wrote for the hero nurses of Vietnam, who met the wounded at their most desperate hour and refused to let them face it alone. Their courage rarely gets a medal pinned to it. It should at least get a song.

Every song I write for them is a way of saying the thing we do not say often enough, and never say enough times: thank you, and I remember.

John Schembari

The Song That Shares This Heart

The Warrior's Wife

Veterans · 2026

A heartfelt tribute to the wives who serve alongside their warriors and hold the home front together.

Listen & read the story

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Story of My First Song
John Schembari