America the Beautiful: A Celebration of Freedom and Service

Hi, I'm Victoria. Happy July 4th and welcome to America the Beautiful Festival Special Access 2025. We are here in Port Jervis, New York for the next two days to celebrate this amazing country and Army's 250th birthday. We're going to be watching some amazing live performances I really cannot wait. So, I'm ready. I hope you are too. Let's get inside. At this time, if you're able, please rise. Gentlemen, remove your hats. We have the color guard for the United States Military Academy at West Point. They're going to bring our colors on stage. These are the United States Army. Let's hear it for them. Come on stage. And I am so humbled, proud, and honored to introduce this next guest. Over 29 years of service with the United States Army. Sergeant Major Mary Kay Messenger. What better way to kick off than the National Anthem? Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? I couldn't wait to speak to Sergeant Major Mary Kay Messenger. I was the premier vocalist for the United States Military Academy Band based out of West Point, New York. It's an active duty unit. Our main mission is to go into the tri-state area and to bring music and more public relations for the United States Military Academy and the United States Army. Happy birthday, 250th birthday today. And what for you is so special about the Army? Obviously you served in it for so many years. What made you decide to sing for the Army? Actually, it was when I was 12 years old, I was asked to sing. It was back in 1980, and I did one of their big summer, end of the year summer concerts, doing a medley of Annie. That was on Broadway at the time. And that went into singing for them every year at some event. And at 29 years old, after I auditioned on Broadway and trying to do things, I was asked to see if I'd be interested in creating a vocal position for the concert band, because they never had a full-time vocalist. And I had the choice to stay. And I said, okay, I'll stay for three more, then three more. Well, I ended up staying for 29, one month and 21 days, but who's counting? And it's been wonderful, the amazing opportunities that I had because I was in uniform and representing who I represented, the Army and the United States Military Academy, that I was able to sing for the World Series, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, Carnegie Hall. I mean, I was a classically trained singer, so Carnegie Hall, practice, practice, practice. I had the opportunity with the Bicentennial for West Point to sing at Carnegie Hall. And- That's amazing. We had so many amazing places and people and veterans. They're actually the backbone of what we do, what we do, our heroes who protected our freedoms. So you can touch one person or you can reach millions of people and send a message. And that's what we do. Thank you. I'll let you prepare. I'm here with the brilliant country band, the Pool Horsemen. Guys, you were fantastic out there. That's quite the introduction there. We appreciate it. But yeah, we're having a great time. It's a lot of fun. What is it about country music that you guys love? There's an honesty and simplicity to it that's really appealing to me. It's one of the only American musics that I feel is left, and it's a great tradition, and we just love playing it. Baseball, apple pie, and country music. Highly decorated General Bulldog gives us a powerful speech. Well, God bless you all. Thank you for coming here today. It's an honor for me to be here. And today is Flag Day. And the flag has inspired the United States Army since 1775 to go into battle and to serve our nation with honor and respect. And to do this in the name of freedom and justice and liberty and life. And for the prosperity of those who believe in God, family, community, and country. Those four pillars have driven my life, and I know they drive many other lives in America. General Bulldog told me why Flag Day means so much to him. My 10 tours in Afghanistan and as a division-level commander in Africa, you know, I lost a total of 72 service members that I sent to, you know, conduct missions. And that is something that always stays with me for the rest of my life. It's why this Flag Day is so important to me because in many cases the last time I was able to say something to them is when we put the flag on their casket and put them on a plane and flew them home to their family. And so that is always something that I think about. And it's a greatness in this country that we can never allow ourselves to forget are those that are willing to put their lives on the line for our freedoms and the freedoms of others. I know that now you do work with veterans. Is that right? And their families. Can you just briefly tell us a bit about what you do? Sure. I'm really focused on the mental health aspect of things, post-traumatic stress, the mental and physical injuries that our service members have and what they struggle through, particularly involved with service dogs and making sure that if our veterans need a partner, there's no better partner than a service dog, right? I often say if dogs ran the world, it'd be a better place. You're going to be cutting the Army's 250th birthday cake. That's what I've been told. And I understand that it might not be a knife you're using. What is your weapon of choice today? And he's got to save her. As they say in the Army, when we're going into battle, the officer leads as it should be. First one out of the aircraft, first one on the ground, last one to leave. We say, follow me. So I'm here with Sophie Terbesh. We're in a Ferris wheel together. Yeah, it's so fun. This is the craziest interview I've ever done. That's amazing. Honestly, I loved your performance today. You are so talented. And I know you're quite young, right? How old are you? I'm 19. I'm a little baby. How long have you been singing before? Since I was 13, I started taking voice lessons. Wow. And when was the moment when you knew that was what you wanted to do with your life? So it's so funny because when I was younger, I would just sing like random songs that I would make up in my head. So I've always been a singer. It's always been a thing of mine. But when my voice coach, when I went to my first lesson with my voice coach, she said, so what do you want to do here? You just want to learn how to sing? Or do you want to be like the next Carrie Underwood? And I was like, that would be pretty cool. So that's how that all happened. And then she just took me under her wing from there. And yeah, we made it happen. What would you say that the characteristic of America, what is it about? It's about family. It's everybody's family, everybody's community. Like if somebody gets pushed down, everybody's going to help them back up. You know what I mean? Yeah. I hear there's supposed to be a delicious Oreo, deep fried Oreos. Have you tried them yet? Not here. I've tried them once before. And I think Oreos are my favorite cookie. So they're right there. We can see them. Get those deep fried Oreos. We would like some deep fried Oreos, please. All right. Are we going to try it here? Let's try it. Cheers. That's so good. That is so good. Thank you. The deep fried Oreos got me thinking, what other treats could I get my hands on? Egg tarts. Can't wait to eat those. We sell the traditional Chinese stuff, which is Tang Hu Lu. Tang Hu Lu. It's really popular right now, you know. Yeah, you're American. It's really tasty. It's so good. I think this is what America is all about. I was having so much fun at the festival, but seeing so much patriotism, I couldn't help but wonder who was behind this event. There's a real deep inner meaning about this festival, and why you're here, and what you guys are doing. Can you tell me a bit about the story behind it? Sure. The head organizer, Jin Pang, she's fled from communist China. Her mom was actually arrested for six years for practicing Falun Gong, a peaceful meditation practice, and was subject to really horrible things. Torture, forced labor. When Jin came out here for her master's, when she would go ask for signatures to help petition to get her mom out, she was very touched by the American spirit. She found all these people that didn't know her, strangers they were willing to not just sign the petition, but they kept asking, what else can we do to help you and help your mom get out of prison? She always remembered that. She felt that that's really what makes America so special, was that there was a spirit of giving and wanting to help others. Fast forward to a few years later, she had her master's degree, she moved to this area, and when she became part of the local community, she really wanted to give back. Three years ago, she approached me. She said, we want to do this. At the time, I think it was called I Love America Festival. We worked on the name of the festival a bit, came up with America of the Beautiful. Obviously, there's the song, but interestingly, America in Chinese is Meiguo, which is a beautiful land. And so it's interesting. So actually, America the Beautiful is the translation from Chinese. Really, the festival started from the spirit of wanting to give back to the heroes of America. They're willing to sacrifice their lives, and we can never repay that. However, through this festival, we can say thank you. It was a touching story, but I wanted to find out how other people felt about the festival. I'm a military officer. I'm a commander in the United States Navy. I spent a lot of time overseas. The United States is really a beacon of freedom across the world, and we want to make sure we continue that. So it's great to have all these families out, a very diverse crowd of all different walks of life, all different ages enjoying their freedom. It's great stuff. And it's amazing. Some of the Cajun food is awesome. Popcorn to snacks, to the beverages, to all ethnic foods. I just grazed for the past several days. What's my favorite food? Sesame chicken. Very American. Can you each tell me what your favorite thing is about America? Just the ability to be free, freedom of speech, and yeah. Very much what she said, like being able to do what you want. The diversity of food. The food and drinks, definitely. This is what, year three, I think? It has gotten bigger and better every year. You have an extreme diversity of food here, and adding the carnival this year even makes it better. Gives something for the little kids. Speaking of kids, these young singers sung their patriotic hearts out. I'm having a good time. You know, Father's Day, so it was kind of a double win for me, but my band got to play. I'm surrounded by patriots and American flags. I mean, could it get any better? I don't know if it could, to be honest. I've had such a blast. I'm having fun. Wow, what have you got here? A lot of things. Lots of things. And did you win those things, or did Daddy win those things for you? My Daddy win them for me. And how great is your Dad? So great. Seeing all the children, I couldn't help but want to play some carnival games myself. Luckily enough for me, Koffee Anderson, one of the country's top independent patriotic artists, was brave enough to take me on. Oh, it's not working! Are you kidding? What is happening? I'm sorry, I don't know what to say. Well, listen, you see that? You see that? The English, the English won this time. Whatever, whatever, whatever. Oh, Koffee, I love your music. It's amazing. What you started in a year? Singing in church. Started in church every Sunday, singing in church and singing in the choir, and then going to school and singing, and then just realized that I had a talent, I had a gift. I want to go with it. It has been amazing. I mean, now I understand, is it two billion streams? Special White Blue? Yeah, Special White Blue has two billion streams collectively all over. It's been used by hundreds of thousands of videos, people coming home from deployments to surprise their families. The song has really been very, very special. I'm honored to have written it, to sing it, and it never gets old to me. Never get old. I absolutely love that song very well. And you've written a lot of patriotic music. What inspires you to do that? I think my dad served in the United States Air Force, and I have a lot of friends that have served as well. And I think being part of a military family and the service families, I think we get what pride is about, what hard work is about. There's not a lot of racism because you only fight for three colors, red, white, blue. It takes everybody to do that. So I think that there's a special DNA that grows in the people that serve our country, also bravery, also selflessness in a lot of ways. So I just write from what I know. I don't know anything else. I think just writing from that perspective of being the son of an Air Force veteran and loving our country, that's not perfect in any form, but I've been all over the world and I still love the United States. Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy that you're here. I had a little bit too much fun with Coffey, so now I couldn't help but find myself riding a pink elephant with singer-songwriter Katie Mantic. Katie, you decided on the pink one, right? I have my heart set on the pink one since last night, and I've been dreaming about it. Your dreams have come true. I couldn't help myself. I even played hooking ducks with Taylor Rees. Oh, you got it. You can do it. You got it. Oh, no. You're gonna try it again. Try it again. Okay, one last go. Let's do it. Do I have to do it over here? Here we go. Ready? There. Yes. We got it. Yes. And you do that with holding a microphone, too. You're a winner, too. What can I say? Yeah, we're winners. Look at that. We're winners. I know that you've been singing from a very young age. Since birth. But professionally, basically popped out singing. And then professionally since I was about nine. Yeah. I know that you served in the Navy. How does it feel as a veteran to perform at a festival like this, this sort of event? Well, my whole mission with music started as a continuation of service. So Dave Bray, USA, Music on a Mission. Those two are synonymous. So it's one of those things where I wanted to take the skills and some of the blessings that God had given to me through music, my songwriting, and my love of country, my love of God, my love of this amazing nation of people. I wanted to put something out there that was going to make everyone proud and bring people together because I think we need more of that in this country right now. This song is called Freedom Rings Blood of Heroes. I wrote it for all those gold star families out there, for all those families who no longer have their father or their son or their mother or their daughters. So this one's called Freedom Rings Blood of Heroes. So remember them, cherish their names, because your freedom rings. For every soul from every war across the seas or on our shore, for every fold of our flag from the coffin's lid to the widow's lap, for every daughter, every son, the price was paid for everyone. So remember them, cherish their names, because your freedom rings. You got a patriotic bone in your body. Take out your phone right now. It's a good son, it's the glory, a hundred strides, a hundred stories. It's a pledge of allegiance on the 4th of July. It's some handwritten letters from home. It's some sleepless nights alone. It's his newborn baby he left with his wife. Sing it if you know it. Mr. Red, White, and Blue laid down his life. Mr. Red, White, and Blue for these stars and stripes. To the swamps of Louisiana, from here in Port Jervis out to California. Uncle Sam's the only family he's got. His purple heart beat won't stop. And his 18th birthday was the day he was born. Mr. Red, White, and Blue laid down his life. Mr. Red, White, and Blue for these stars and stripes. To the white and blue, stand on the front line. To the cry of fight them all. Why is America so beautiful? What is it that you love about America? How much time do you have? No, I'd say everything. The freedom that we have and the people, the men and women that protect it. It's a very safe place. It's the greatest country in the world. The land of opportunity. I'm always thrilled to be able to celebrate America. There's never a bad day to celebrate America. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about these things that are very near and dear to my heart. It's only at events like this that we can do that, right? And we need to do more of it because it brings people together. And as I said earlier, what's the most beautiful and best part of America? The people. You know, people have different political values, but it's good to see everybody together here. I'm proud to be an American and I know we have our freedoms because of what they did. And you can't ever forget that.