Veterans celebrated at Warriors Rock concert
The annual tribute show honors the military and first responders.
Hundreds gathered Sunday evening at the Monongahela Aquatorium Warriors Rock concert to honor Mon Valley- area veterans with live music featuring video interviews of the veterans on a large projector screen.
Warriors Rock travels the country with Gary Racan and the Studio E Band. Racan and his wife Kim Racan co-founded the organization. The large band featured multiple lead and backing vocalists, guitar, bass, drums, keys, saxophone and more.
Before the main show began, a marching band from Mon Valley Academy of the Arts played while bringing in a large American flag. Then Kim Racan took to the stage in a white shirt featuring an American flag and introduced the show.
Warriors Rock has done the same event with different veterans and music the past few years. Sunday’s show featured six veterans in addition to two first responders.
“Hello, Monongahela,” Gary Racan said to the crowd. “It’s great to be back.”
Once the concert got started, the folks on stage alternated between playing popular music requested by the veterans and screening the short video interviews. When focusing on a certain veteran, Kim Racan would draw attention to the person in the crowd.
One veteran, Michael Bundash, discussed his time in the Army from 1965 to 1967. He requested the 1960s song “Soldier Boy” by The Shirelles.
Another video featured two Marine veterans, a husband and wife married for 57 years, Donald Bailey and Joyce Bailey, who started the Washington County Young Marines. They requested “Since I Met You Baby” by Ivory Joe Hunter.
Don Devore, a longtime Mon Valley businessman and volunteer firefighter for the Monongahela Fire Department, talked about his years of service and various members of his family who served in the military. He also discussed helping with previous Warriors Rock events, when he aided veterans who needed assistance getting onto the stage to be honored.
He requested the national anthem, which prompted the audience to stand and put their hands over their hearts. Other music during the concert, which also included popular tunes from the years of American wars, included “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood and “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Vince Gill.
One veteran, 100-year-old Peter Ladisic, served as the big moment before intermission. Ladisic, who beat throat cancer about 10 years ago, talked in his video about his time in the Air Force during World War II, when he received serious injuries during a battle. For his song, he chose “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller, which a few members of the band performed off the stage directly in front of him, with his family surrounding him.
This gesture left Dave Papak, local organizer of the event and a United States Marine Corps veteran, in tears.
“This is why we do this,” Papak said. “You see that family? You see that guy out there? Young people have to see that.”
