Hands down, it was the Anheuser-Busch ad honoring our military. Simple, elegant, inspired, and inspiring. Watch it here.

Reminded me of this soldier’s homecoming and this soldier’s homecoming and these soldiers’ homecoming experiences.

The ad says it all: Thank you.

Update: The New York Times can’t resist mocking the Anheuser-Busch ad. Here’s what NYT reporter Stuart Elliott wrote in his review of Super Bowl ads:

What follows is an assessment of some of the best and worst other commercials. The spots described below are among 35 provided to reporters before the game, out of the total of 50 commercials that were scheduled to run.

Anheuser-Busch A gauzy valentine to American troops, which ended with the Anheuser-Busch corporate logo superimposed on screen, was touching, but some viewers may have wondered whether “Busch” had been misspelled.

“Some viewers?” Which ones, besides Mr. Elliott’s Times’ colleagues, huh? Speak for yourself, buster.

They just can’t give it a rest, can they? Not even on Super Bowl Sunday. Crikey.

Update II: Randy Townley notices that the bloggers at AdJab, which liveblogged the Super Bowl ads, didn’t even bother to comment on the Anheuser-Busch spot.

Florida Cracker thinks the A-B ad was too P.C.

Reader Patricia Bond shares her heartwarming experiences:

I work for American Airlines at DFW airport and have seen this scene repeated every time we have a military flight arrive here (they all arrive either here or BWI) and the soldiers disperse to take their connecting flights home. Just four days ago I had 37 soldiers returning from Iraq on R and R on our flight. As I made the boarding announcements, I told the other passengers that we had young men and women who were really anxious to get home and we were going to allow them to board first and get settled in before beginning general boarding. As the soldiers stepped up to walk down the jetbridge, everyone in the waiting area clapped. Passengers hurrying to their next flight, airport employees and crew members all stopped and joined in.

One young girl whistled really loud and long. The soldiers loved it. They were grinning and waving to everyone. One of the last ones to board asked if he could hug me. As he did he said, “We came from Mosul two days ago. We were getting shot at up until the time we left there. You have no idea what your kindness and this recognition means to all of us.” I replied, “No, thank you. You have no idea what your service and sacrifice means to all of us here!”

As I looked around, I saw tears in many eyes. It was a brief, great moment. We love honoring these young men and women in this small way.