Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif — America's war on terror has its resolute leaders and heroic warriors. Now it may have a mascot in a 2 1/2-year-old moppet whom people at this missile-testing facility call the God Bless America Girl.
In recent months, Erin Bradley has piled up more media notices than most actors. She calls broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer a friend, is pursued by agents and has been asked for autographs even though she can't write.
Erin Bradley, 2 1/2, plays with her father, Sgt. Christopher Bradley, standing on his hands. The tiny tot's rendition of "God Bless America" has earned her national fame, including a recent appearance on "Good Morning America."
All because after Sept. 11 she learned to sing and has since sung incessantly "God Bless America." Her rendition of the Irving Berlin classic, enthusiastic if not letter-perfect, has brought men to tears and stopped shoppers in their tracks at the mall.
Asked in the living room of her family's stucco bungalow if she likes being famous, the 3-foot, 30-pound dynamo said, "Yeah. Want to see my room?"
Asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she burst into a series of flailing, spinning moves that vaguely suggested a ballerina. "I got a Barbie Nutcracker," she said when she stopped twirling.
If she is unaffected by her sudden celebrity, her parents, Staff Sgt. Christopher Bradley and his wife, Dara, are nearly stupefied.
"It's been overwhelming, thrilling," said Dara Bradley, 34. Thrills included having her makeup touched up on "Good Morning America" by the woman who works on the "Sopranos" television series.
There have been chills, too. Dara Bradley feared her daughter would refuse to sing on camera. She's only 2, after all. (She'll be 3 in March.)
They needn't have worried. When host Charles Gibson introduced her as "perhaps America's youngest patriot," she grabbed a toy microphone and belted, or at least warbled, the song on cue.
America's little cheerleader is part of a close-knit military family on this Air Force base spread along California's Central Coast. Her father is a heavy-equipment operator who hunts wild boar as a hobby. Her mother was a semipro bowler with a 202 average who now stays home. "That's my work," said Dara Bradley, pointing at her daughter.
The couple met at a karaoke bar in nearby Santa Maria when Chris Bradley walked up and said, "Where have you been all my life?"
Neither is a singer, although "I sing in the shower sometimes," Dara Bradley said.
Despite all the current attention, life has not changed much for Erin and her parents. Erin still spends much of her time playing with her Barbie and chasing her dog, a Labrador retriever named Diesel, around the yard.
A talent agent wants to sign the girl, but her parents are hesitant to involve her in show business.
"If nothing else comes out of it," said Christopher Bradley, "it was a great experience."
"I'm saving everything," her mother said. "Someday she's going to be able to show her children and grandchildren that she was the God Bless America Girl."
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