A LETTER FROM HOME

A LETTER FROM HOME

May 29, 2011

Dear Soldier:

There are so many thoughts of you and your buddies over there going through my mind. How do I tell you how very much I appreciate your service, sacrifice and loyalty to our beloved country? There are just not enough words to write to express my support and deep appreciation!

You have volunteered to serve and honor our country by serving on distant land, like so many before you. You have the spirit to do the best you can in what ever you have to do. May God give you the courage and strength to endure the hardships, the being away from home and family, the lonliness you will sometimes feel. It is in those times that you will find a brotherhood of young men (and women) like you, and these relationships will grow over the years.

I am so proud of what you are doing! In each task you face, you are giving America another step towards freedom.

I joined the Women's Army Corps back in 1955, at eighteen, and I must say it was an experience that differs much from what you are facing now. The Korean War was just ending, and my family didn't like the idea of me in the service. However, the training I got helped prepare me for the rest of my life. I was glad to be able to serve, although i didn't leave the States until after I married a soldier and followed him to Germany where my oldest daughter was born, and then to Kentucky, where my son was born - at Fort Knox.so I've had a good taste of military life.

Since that time, I have worked with the Daughters of the American Revolution and interviewed veterans from World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, and other stations around the world. Those interviews are recorded at the Library of Congress as well as the local State Historical Society. After that, I have worked with other groups to send Care Packages to those serving in Iraq, and lhis past year, to those in Afghanistan and Germany's Regional Hospital where the wounded are taken. It has been an honor and a priviledge!

I live in the hills of Vermont, usually a beautiful spot, but April and May has proved to be a bit of a problem weather-wise, not just here but across the country. Too much rain, high winds and tornados. Our Ntaional Guard units across the country have been called on to assist. We are all praying for sunshine, and our prayers include all the troops that are over there, we wish you were home already too!

Take care of YOU, and know that there are many who will honor you this Memorial Day weekend with our thoughts and continued prayers..

With love and respect to all -with this poem to share:

THOSE WHO SERVE, THOSE WHO WAIT

There are those who volunteer to serve
when our country's freedom is at stake,
who leave their families and their homes
knowing of the difference they can make.

Our sons and daughters, husbands, wives
take the oath to protect America and serve.
They leave the comfort of their own existence
to strike a chord of hope in our nation's nerve.

They face an enemy who wants to take away
the kind of life our Constitution has claimed
and some come home, and some are lost
but they do not come home ashamed.

They are proud to serve our country now,
just as they did in all the other bitter wars.
For many now have the peace and freedom
and we've helped even up some old scores.

AND THERE ARE THOSE WHO WAIT -
for those who serve to come back home again.
Waiting is not an easy thing, the time is long
but they will come home, the women and men.

Somehow so different than they were before,
for time and absence makes everyone change.
The welcoming arms of loved ones held close
may somehow to them seem a little strange.

They need to know how proud of them we are,
those of us who wait for them to come home.
They need to know how much we love them
and give them time to readjust and be alone.

For those who serve and for those who wait,
those who hold our liberty and our colors high
are a special breed of people that we salute,
let our fight for our freedom never, ever die!

Julie
[e-mail]

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