Archive › Albums & compilations › I Found the Answer
Scan filed under “Memorial Service for 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker” · all scans →
Release I Found the Answer
Year 1967
Format LP · Album
Country USA
Language English
Songs here 2 in the archive
Citation: Justin A. Brummer, Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) — 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker, I Found the Answer; cite each song by its SongID

I Found the Answer

1967 · Album · Not On Label · USA
2 songs from this release are in the archive, listed below in catalogue order. Track positions are not recorded; the release may carry other songs that do not reference the war. Most common themes: Patriotic, Soldier's Perspective, Religion.
Annotation
There is no label, number, location, or date - it was probably released in 1968, the year of his memorial service, in Ames, Iowa. It featured spoken-word and church music. Larry Bleeker was killed in action, in Quảng Trị province on 26 October 1967, after only six weeks of duty.12 Only two track titles, the a-side "A Small Excerpt From the Life of 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker, a Young Man Who Found the Answer" , and the b-side, "Memorial Service for 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker" .

The a-side consists of two "homemade" recordings, the first by Bleeker in the US speaking about religion, he then sings a song which references Vietnam, and talks about heading out to war. The second recording Bleeker made in Vietnam, addressed to his parents, describing his experiences in Saigon etc. The b-side is a recording from his family's church memorial service. The minister comments on Vietnam, criticising the anti-war movement.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Collections
Songs from this release appear in these 2 curated collections.
The songs
1.
Credited as Dr. Paul Tassell · 1967 · Album · Not On Label · USA · I Found the Answer

Private LP with plain white labels, 33 1/3 RPM, both headed "Lt. Larry Bleeker / "I Found the Answer""; Side 1 reads "A Small Excerpt From the Life of 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker, a Young Man Who Found the Answer" and Side 2 "Memorial Service for 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker". The front cover carries a studio portrait of Bleeker in Marine Corps dress uniform, signed "2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker". A typed insert headed "2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker Testimonial Record" offers the record at $4.00 each c/o Walter Sutherland, 301 N. Franklin, Ames, Iowa 50010, and lists Side 1 as "2nd Lt. Bleeker testimony: University Freshman, University Senior, After Commissioned, From combat zone - Viet Nam" and Side 2 as "Memorial Service, Dr. Paul Tassell". The insert reprints an Ames Daily Tribune clipping dated 10-30-67, "Ames Marine was killed in Vietnam", reporting that Marine Corps Second Lt. Larry Bleeker, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram W. Bleeker, was killed by sniper fire in a defensive position, that he was a 1961 graduate of Ames High School and a 1966 graduate of Iowa State University, active in the Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ and Intervarsity, and that he had made tape recordings for friends and family, quoting one sent to his parents: "Mom, Dad, I want you to know I'm ready to go... I'm ready to live, die or to do either for the glory of Jesus Christ." It also reprints a letter to the editor by David H. MacIntrye from The Antelope, Kearney State College, Kearney, Nebraska, describing "II Lt. Lawrence D. Bleeker, 24, known to his buddies as 'Bleek'", killed in Vietnam on October 26 "downed by a sniper's bullet", who "went to Vietnam as a Marine because he believed with all his heart that God wanted him to take the gospel of Peace to Marines." [From the record sleeve and labels]

2.
1967 · Album · Not On Label · USA · I Found the Answer

Private LP with plain white labels, 33 1/3 RPM, both headed "Lt. Larry Bleeker / "I Found the Answer""; Side 1 reads "A Small Excerpt From the Life of 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker, a Young Man Who Found the Answer" and Side 2 "Memorial Service for 2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker". The front cover carries a studio portrait of Bleeker in Marine Corps dress uniform, signed "2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker". A typed insert headed "2nd Lt. Larry Bleeker Testimonial Record" offers the record at $4.00 each c/o Walter Sutherland, 301 N. Franklin, Ames, Iowa 50010, and lists Side 1 as "2nd Lt. Bleeker testimony: University Freshman, University Senior, After Commissioned, From combat zone - Viet Nam" and Side 2 as "Memorial Service, Dr. Paul Tassell". The insert reprints an Ames Daily Tribune clipping dated 10-30-67, "Ames Marine was killed in Vietnam", reporting that Marine Corps Second Lt. Larry Bleeker, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram W. Bleeker, was killed by sniper fire in a defensive position, that he was a 1961 graduate of Ames High School and a 1966 graduate of Iowa State University, active in the Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ and Intervarsity, and that he had made tape recordings for friends and family, quoting one sent to his parents: "Mom, Dad, I want you to know I'm ready to go... I'm ready to live, die or to do either for the glory of Jesus Christ." It also reprints a letter to the editor by David H. MacIntrye from The Antelope, Kearney State College, Kearney, Nebraska, describing "II Lt. Lawrence D. Bleeker, 24, known to his buddies as 'Bleek'", killed in Vietnam on October 26 "downed by a sniper's bullet", who "went to Vietnam as a Marine because he believed with all his heart that God wanted him to take the gospel of Peace to Marines." [From the record sleeve and labels]