Kevin, I still owe OD a CD from a friend of mine down here. It's some songs he wrote back in the 70's I think. So, I may as well owe you a CD as well. It's a CD by Gary Cavanaugh. Gary has been in Nashville 20ish years now, and still writes the kind of music you have just pointed us to. I don't know if I can "give it to you", but I'll ask Gary if I can let you listen to it. He does sell his CD's, so I don't think I should just send it to you without asking.
Now about the song. It sounds like it's genre' might be folk or Americana. For those genre's I'm sure it's a great song. My problem with this style of music is most of them tend to "Tell" a story instead of "showing" a story. I guess you could argue there really is a lot of imagery in this tune, so it does show the story. The other thing about song I can get into is, I usually relate in some way to the song. I don't relate to this song. It's more of a picture of history. It isn't until the 3rd verse when he starts talking about tings I can relate to. Pouring your son his first beer, watching your wife grow more beautiful, the smell of cut grass, paying off a loan, etc. But, I've already lost interest before it gets there. For me to listen to a song more than the first few lines, it's got to relate to me right away. I wasn't in the military in 1941, so to me, the song is a history lesson, I've already studied.
phil g.