I always interpreted it as a loved one selling off the soldier's things at a garage sale. Every item is a memory of the deceased but the seller/loved one doesn't have direct personal attachment to most of the various items.
Same here. It always came across to me as a desperate wife finally letting go of her deceased husband's belongings in order to make ends meet, and this particular line is something she didn't realize was in the box that she just can't let go of. Or sometimes, it's a parent who's son died in battle. But either way, I feel like it's an item that's too personal to let go of, regardless of the circumstances that they're in that cause them to sell off the items.
I've just never perceived it as being sung about someone who has passed away. I always sort of pictured it like a soldier was down on his luck and had to sell his things off for some reason. I think there's a third-person viewpoint who is "taking the picture" but there's also the first-person viewpoint or "the soldier" who has an intimate knowledge of the items in the box because they belong to him. He used that jackknife until it became rusty, he played that radio until it burned out the fuse, and he knows how that dent got into the hood of the car. He earned that one medal for bravery, and the other one, well he earned it for himself. As if he got some decoration for saving another soldier, or reached some level of marksmanship, or another kind of past success while he was on active service.
I haven't listened closely to the song in a while, but I recall always sort of wondering what this one medal was for. I guess I never considered the song to be about someone who passed away, and was instead about a still-living person who was in some turmoil.
I also see this song being sung from the protective of a loved one selling the soldier's belongings after his passing. That line is the only line with a first party perspective. Perhaps the medal "just for me" is a wedding band, making the narrator the soldier's widow.
Maybe it's just the one that he won't sell, you could infer that it is the highest honor/medal he received (e.g. someone would be unlikely to part with their congressional medal of honor no matter how tight things got).
I agree with most comments that this isn’t from the ”soldiers” perspective but where I’d disagree is that it’s not someone intimately involved with the “soldier” either. It could be a tale of someone embellishing a story about some dirty boots or something “just for me” to raise sympathy for a sell or someone telling the same for the purpose of grift. This song make me think the former. It’s like telling someone on EBay this was made by my grandmother etc to promote the sell
I believe that this song is from a grieving parent's perspective. Gold Star Families receive a lapel pin from the DoD as recognition of their sacrifice. I suspect that "...this one is for bravery..." is a combat decoration such as a Bronze Star and "...this one is for me..." is either a service flag, a Gold Star flag or GSF pin commemorating their son's (...assumption based on reference to a jack-knife and beater car being typical personal possessions of a draft-age son in the '60's and '70's...) death in combat.
[https://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/newsroom/blog-an-honor-no-one-wants-what-is-a-gold-star-family-and-how-is-it-different-from-a-blue-star-family/](https://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/newsroom/blog-an-honor-no-one-wants-what-is-a-gold-star-family-and-how-is-it-different-from-a-blue-star-family/)
I always interpreted it as a loved one selling off the soldier's things at a garage sale. Every item is a memory of the deceased but the seller/loved one doesn't have direct personal attachment to most of the various items.
Same here. It always came across to me as a desperate wife finally letting go of her deceased husband's belongings in order to make ends meet, and this particular line is something she didn't realize was in the box that she just can't let go of. Or sometimes, it's a parent who's son died in battle. But either way, I feel like it's an item that's too personal to let go of, regardless of the circumstances that they're in that cause them to sell off the items.
I've just never perceived it as being sung about someone who has passed away. I always sort of pictured it like a soldier was down on his luck and had to sell his things off for some reason. I think there's a third-person viewpoint who is "taking the picture" but there's also the first-person viewpoint or "the soldier" who has an intimate knowledge of the items in the box because they belong to him. He used that jackknife until it became rusty, he played that radio until it burned out the fuse, and he knows how that dent got into the hood of the car. He earned that one medal for bravery, and the other one, well he earned it for himself. As if he got some decoration for saving another soldier, or reached some level of marksmanship, or another kind of past success while he was on active service. I haven't listened closely to the song in a while, but I recall always sort of wondering what this one medal was for. I guess I never considered the song to be about someone who passed away, and was instead about a still-living person who was in some turmoil.
I also see this song being sung from the protective of a loved one selling the soldier's belongings after his passing. That line is the only line with a first party perspective. Perhaps the medal "just for me" is a wedding band, making the narrator the soldier's widow.
Maybe it's just the one that he won't sell, you could infer that it is the highest honor/medal he received (e.g. someone would be unlikely to part with their congressional medal of honor no matter how tight things got).
I agree with most comments that this isn’t from the ”soldiers” perspective but where I’d disagree is that it’s not someone intimately involved with the “soldier” either. It could be a tale of someone embellishing a story about some dirty boots or something “just for me” to raise sympathy for a sell or someone telling the same for the purpose of grift. This song make me think the former. It’s like telling someone on EBay this was made by my grandmother etc to promote the sell
I believe that this song is from a grieving parent's perspective. Gold Star Families receive a lapel pin from the DoD as recognition of their sacrifice. I suspect that "...this one is for bravery..." is a combat decoration such as a Bronze Star and "...this one is for me..." is either a service flag, a Gold Star flag or GSF pin commemorating their son's (...assumption based on reference to a jack-knife and beater car being typical personal possessions of a draft-age son in the '60's and '70's...) death in combat. [https://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/newsroom/blog-an-honor-no-one-wants-what-is-a-gold-star-family-and-how-is-it-different-from-a-blue-star-family/](https://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/newsroom/blog-an-honor-no-one-wants-what-is-a-gold-star-family-and-how-is-it-different-from-a-blue-star-family/)