A large crowd trooped out to Grace Lighthouse Fellowship Church in East Wareham to see 'Singing Trooper' Dan Clark perform Sunday evening.

Clark performed "God and Country", a mix of patriotic and spiritual songs, for the crowd of about 80 people.

Clark served as a Massachusetts state trooper for 20 years. During this tenure with the state police, he performed at more than 2,500 events for federal, state, local, and military functions. Clark is also known for getting invited to sing anthems at New England professional sporting events.

The name 'Singing Trooper' first came about in 1988, when he received a letter of gratitude from then-Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, thanking him for his service in singing at a funeral of a fallen officer. Soon after, he happened to run into Dukakis at a Hyannisport Boston Pops summer concert. When Clark introduced himself, Dukakis shouted out to his wife, "Hey Kitty, it's the singing trooper." Clark was soon introduced to Mrs. Dukakis' father, Maestro Harry Ellis Dickson of the Boston Pops, who invited him to sing 'America the Beautiful' with the orchestra.

“After the Pops I got so many requests for appearances,” Clark said. “Everything you could think of – from the Pops to an Eagle Scout ceremony. After [the attacks of] Sept. 11, I was doing three or four a day, I was all over the state, and sometimes the nation.”

Joining Clark in Sunday’s performance was his wife, Mary Colarusso, lead soprano for both the Lowell Opera and Boston Bel Canto Opera companies. The two sang spiritual numbers such as "Old Rugged Cross", "Shall we Gather at the River?", and "Via Dolorosa", as well as the well-known patriotic songs "America The Beautiful", and "God Bless America".

The performance was partly a night of storytelling, too. Clark led many of the songs with anecdotal historical background information.

“I have all these stories," Clark said. "I think a lot of people just stand up and sing. I sing for a purpose.”

“I have always wanted to hear him in person,” said Wareham resident Lydia Sherman. “I have seen him on different things on T.V. Someone mentioned he was here, and so I wanted to check it out.”

Jack Savastano, retired fire fighter and electrician from West Wareham said, “I started coming to the church a while ago to ... listen to the music. I have seen him on the news sometimes.”

Reverend Tom Perry coordinates a singing service at 6 p.m. every Sunday. He said Clark's presence drew a good crowd that night, as a quarter of the audience members were new visitors who had never previously attended.