Crying Shame - Performance

gCGCC. I composed this song in November of 2004 after learning that one of my closest friends had been killed in Ramadi, Iraq. He was 21 years old.  

"PFC Dennis J. Miller, 21, was killed Wednesday in Ramadi when a rocket propelled grenade hit his M1A1 Abrams tank, the Pentagon said. Miller was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, which deployed from Camp Casey, South Korea." 

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ERIE, Michigan — Soldier and Young Husband Deployed Overseas in September was killed in Iraq.  Family members of Pfc. Dennis Miller Jr., 21, were notified of the death Thursday morning. 

“He just felt honored he could serve our country, especially during war,” his wife of 13 months, Kimberly, told The Monroe Evening News.  

Miller was a 2001 graduate of Mason High School and studied history at Monroe Community College. His mother said her son loved hunting with his father and uncles. “He was a great kid,” Kathy Miller said. “He never was in any trouble.”  

Miller was the 33rd member of the military from Michigan to die in Iraq. He graduated from basic training and completed M1 Abrams tank training in September, 2003 at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and was stationed in Korea. He was home on leave for two weeks in June and reported to Iraq on Sept. 8.  

Laura Imhoff, owner of Capt. Harry’s Storehouse Pizza in LaSalle, said Miller had worked for about a year at her business.  “He was a wonderful, wonderful kid,” she said. “You couldn’t ask for anyone better. He’d do anything for anyone." 

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When I was a boy my momma used to say 

Don't you the ever let them see you run away 

I tried to obey the words she said that day 

But now I'm running and I just can't get away  

My father drifted away my mother's dead and gone 

My sister died of shame my brother never came home 

I've been running so long I just can't run no more 

I've been running since the day that I was born.  

I know that thieves can steal I know that liars can lie 

I guess that I'll be a fool until the day I die 

I've seen more hard times than I would care to count 

I know that nobody knows you when you're down and out  

Lord I never thought that I would live this long 

And I never thought that I would be this strong  

I hear the voice of an angel singing my last song 

Lord I never thought that I would live this long