AVON LAKE, Ohio — The first few words floating over simple guitar chords bring Nick George back to the last time he saw his older brother.
“I remember when we took him to the airport. He was getting on the plane. He got up to the top of the stairs and he turned around and looked,” George said. “And you could just see in his face that he wasn’t sure about what he was about to do. I think he looked like he didn’t think he was going to come back.”
The core memory is the opening line of a song written and performed by Bethany Joy.
“At 20 years old, Leo was told to Vietnam he must go,” she sang. “As he boarded that plane, I saw in his face he knew that he might not come home.”
Leo George was drafted into the U.S. Army when his brother was a junior at Lorain High School.
“He was a good guy. He helped a lot of people. He had a lot of friends,” Nick George said of his brother. “His [draft number] was called.”
Within months of training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Polk, Louisiana, the newly minted private was dropped into heavy conflict. George said his brother downplayed the danger he was facing.
“He sent my sister letters, one for her and a different one for my mom, because he didn’t want my mom to worry,” he said. “So everything was fine when he sent hers, but then he would tell my sister what was really happening.”
In early 1969, just weeks after arriving in Vietnam, Leo George was killed in the Kien Hoa province.
“I was in the eleventh grade. I was in history when I got the call to go to the office,” said Nick George. “I really had a hard time. I spiked a 104-degree temperature. It was really hard. And then to watch my parents suffer through it – that was even worse.”
He said losing his older brother was made more difficult by the controversy and political undertones of the Vietnam War.
“Nobody cared about the soldiers,” George said. “They gave up their all to help keep us safe. Even though some people say it wasn’t for that, they didn’t know that. They were told what to do, and they were doing it because they thought it was right.”
Since then, the younger brother has attended memorial services and paid tribute to all the fallen veterans. Leo George's name is among the 98 Lorain County natives inscribed at the Lorain County Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Amherst.
“A piece of his heart really left with his brother,” said Bethany Joy.
The Lakewood singer-songwriter never knew George and only recently met Nick George through a weekend workshop with Project D.R.E.W.
The name is an acronym that stands for “delivering restorative energy to our warriors.” It’s also named in honor of Drew Ferguson, a Special Forces captain from Avon Lake who died by suicide in 2017.
The program typically pairs singer-songwriters with veterans to turn their stories into original songs.
“Sometimes they talk a lot about their time in the service, but sometimes it’s just more about who they are and their life,” Joy said. “It’s about you getting to be seen.”
Her song about Leo George was the first she’d written with the family of a fallen soldier.
“Because Leo is not here and can’t tell his story, it felt really significant to be able to give him a little bit of a voice in the world that he’s not a part of anymore,” she said.
After the first meeting with Nick George, Joy wrote his brother's song within a few hours and then performed it live for the workshop participants the following day.
“It’s usually very emotional and there’s tears shed afterwards. It’s definitely one of the only times I get nervous to perform,” she said. “I was just really happy to give this pretty little song to him to fill some of that emptiness in his heart.”
George added, “I cried. It was such a beautiful song.”
Joy said the experience has given her a fresh perspective on Memorial Day and what it represents.
“Now I understand the significance and the importance of taking the time to honor people who aren’t here who’ve given their lives for hundreds of years,” she said.
George said the song encapsulated his feelings and memories of his brother. More importantly, he said it was a tribute to his brother's sacrifice.
“It meant a lot. It made it seem like it wasn’t all for naught,” he said.
You can watch the full, original performance by clicking on this link.
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
