Shot Down Twice in One Day: The True Story Behind Steel Bronco

My uncle does not dress a war story up. Lomas Rishee “Ron” Sharma is my uncle, a Vietnam War veteran, and the man in the black-and-white photograph on this page. In 1971 he was nineteen. Steel Bronco is the song I wrote so that day would not have to be louder than he made it.

Lomas “Ron” Sharma, 1971

I have known him all my life as Ron. The uniform in the picture is a U.S. Army uniform, and he is so young in it that I still catch my breath. I did not grow up with a long lecture about the war. I grew up with this photograph, two medals, and an uncle who would rather be family than a story. When I understood what I was looking at, I knew a Vietnam veteran tribute song had to start with his name.

Shot down twice, back up a third time

Read that slowly. Twice in one day. Then a third attempt, and the mission completed. He was nineteen. I was not there, and I am not going to invent the parts of the day he did not give me. What he gave us is the shape of it: shot down, shot down again, and then up, until the work was finished.

That is what I hear when the song starts. A nineteen-year-old who had already been brought down twice and still went back up. On this site, Steel Bronco is described as an explosive military rock anthem following a fearless Texas cowboy turned Vietnam War airman, surviving enemy fire and fighting against the odds. I am staying with that description. The man is quieter than the chorus. He did not tell us this to be impressive. He told it because it happened, and because the medals in the 1971 photograph are the ones he is wearing.

I am his nephew. The respectful thing was to learn the sentence he was willing to say, and then stop.

The Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with V

The two medals on his uniform are the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with a “V” device. He named them. He said the Air Medal is embellished with V for valor. A ribbon can turn into a blur if nobody says what it is for, so here is the general meaning, and only that.

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a United States military decoration for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. Congress authorized it on 2 July 1926. It recognises a single, distinctive act in the air, not the simple fact of having flown.

The Air Medal is an aerial award as well. It recognises a single act of heroism, or meritorious achievement, while participating in aerial flight, and it dates from an executive order in 1942. The “V” device stands for valor. On the Air Medal, it marks heroism in combat rather than meritorious service alone. That is the general meaning. It is also how my uncle described the medal on his own chest.

Writing Steel Bronco

I wrote Steel Bronco as a nephew before I wrote it as a songwriter. How do you honour a man who has already told the truth in a few lines, and who does not need the truth made bigger? The answer I trusted was to stay close to him. Nineteen. Shot down twice in one day. A third time up. A mission completed. Two medals. A Vietnam War veteran who is still my uncle when the amplifiers stop.

The chorus is allowed to be large. The facts stay small, because small is how they were handed to me. A veterans day song that wanders off from the person it names is only a loud flag, and I did not want that. The music and the lyrics are mine. The credit is only mine: Music & lyrics: Rico Sharma. The courage is not. It belongs to Ron.

Listen

This is the record. Play it once for the weight of it, and once more for the nineteen-year-old in the photograph. The song page is Steel Bronco, with the official video. If it finds you on an ordinary afternoon, or on Veterans Day, I hope it sends you toward a real person and not only a chorus.

How to thank a veteran this 11 November

Veterans Day in the United States falls on 11 November. A veterans day song can open a door. It cannot walk through that door for you.

If you want to thank a veteran this 11 November, start with a name. If that person is in your family, ask how they would like to be thanked, and take a quiet nod if a story is not on offer. You do not have to ask for the worst day of someone’s life in order to be glad they lived it. You can listen longer than you speak. You can remember that service is not a costume a song gets to borrow.

I will be thinking of Lomas Rishee “Ron” Sharma. Nineteen in 1971. Shot down twice in one day. Up a third time, until the mission was complete. The Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with “V” for valor on his uniform. Steel Bronco is my thank-you. It is not a substitute for his words. Those come first.

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