Watch Leslie Tom’s video for “Didn’t Think Twice” here.
Country artist Leslie Tom has released her official video for “Didn’t Think Twice” today as a tribute to the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The video, which premiered at Wide Open Country, honors the sacrifices of the brave soldiers who landed on the shores of Normandy that fateful day.
All proceeds from the release of “Didn’t Think Twice” will benefit the Association of 3rd Armored Veterans. For more information, please visit: www.3ad.org
A note from Leslie about “Didn’t Think Twice”:
“When I began working on my third studio project and happened to watch a video on YouTube called ‘Just A Common Soldier’ I knew I had to write a song as a tribute to my grandfather and his service to our country during WWII.
Within a few days of D-Day, on June 6, 1944, Milton Smallwood Alexander, a 26- year-old Texan and my grandfather, landed on the shores of Normandy with a tank regiment of the Third Armored Division. As a tank driver, he was one of the brave Americans who liberated France, Belgium, and then Germany before returning home to resume a “normal life.” Like many of the Veterans of WWII, nightmares must have wrestled in his head of that horrific war, especially those of fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and watching his best friend die beside him as a deuce-and-a-half accidentally rolled over him, ultimately saving my grandfather’s life. For that generation of men, war was not discussed, though we can only surmise that the experiences they had were with the “Greatest Generation” for a lifetime.
The original version of “Didn’t Think Twice” was released as a duet with former Navy SEAL, Pete Scobell on Veterans Day 2016. A chance meeting with an Uber drive in south Florida in December 2017 led to me connecting with the Association of 3rd Armored Veterans and another grandchild of a 3AD WWII veteran, Lou Baczewski, who is a historian and documentarian. Lou wrote and produced the documentary feature film “Path to the Past” about his grandfather’s experience during WWII through France, Belgium and Germany.
After Lou and I talked, it was decided we would re-cut “Didn’t Think Twice” with new lyrics specific to the experiences of those that fought in WWII and new music by the River Rats Band out of St. Louis, who produced the original music score for the film. Using images of 3AD WWII fighters and my grandparents, Lou directed and produced the new video version of “Didn’t Think Twice” which is dedicated to the WWII veterans that served in the 3AD.”