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Larry Witcraft sent me this. Of course
it made me cry. Clyde
The daughter of a
Soldier
Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia
attending a conference. While I was in
the airport, returning home, I heard
several people behind me beginning to
clap and cheer. I immediately turned
around and witnessed one of the greatest
acts of patriotism I have ever seen.
Moving thru the terminal was a group of
soldiers in their camo's, as they began
heading to their gate everyone (well
almost everyone) was abruptly to their
feet with their hands waving and
cheering. When I saw the soldiers,
probably 30-40 of them, being applauded
and cheered for it hit me. I'm not
alone. I'm not the only red blooded
American who still loves this country
and supports our troops and their
families.
Of course I immediately stopped and
began clapping for these young unsung
heroes who are putting their lives on
the line everyday for us so we can go to
school, work and home without fear or
reprisal. Just when I thought I could
not be more proud of my country or of
our service men and women a young girl,
not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up
to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled
down and said "hi," the little girl then
she asked him if he would give something
to her daddy for her. The young soldier,
he didn't look any older than maybe 22
himself, said he would try and what did
she want to give to her daddy. Then
suddenly the little girl grabbed the
neck of this soldier, gave him the
biggest hug she could muster and then
kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said
her daughters name was Courtney, told
the young soldier that her husband was a
Marine and had been in Iraq for 11
months now. As the mom was explaining
how much her daughter, Courtney, missed
her father, the young soldier began to
tear up. When this temporarily single
mom was done explaining her situation,
all of the soldiers huddled together for
a brief second. Then one of the other
servicemen pulled out a military looking
walkie-talkie. They started playing with
the device and talking back and forth on
it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the
young soldier walked back over to
Courtney, bent down and said this to
her, "I spoke to your daddy and he told
me to give this to you." He then hugged
this little girl that he had just met
and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He
finished by saying "your daddy told me
to tell you that he loves you more than
anything and he is coming home very
soon."
The mom at this point was crying almost
uncontrollably and as the young soldier
stood to his feet he saluted Courtney
and her mom. I was standing no more than
6 feet away from this entire event
unfolded. As the soldiers began to
leave, heading towards their gate,
people resumed their applause. As I
stood there applauding and looked
around, their were very few dry eyes,
including my own. That young soldier in
one last act of selflessness, turned
around and blew a kiss to Courtney with
a tear rolling down his cheek.
We need to remember everyday all of our
soldiers and their families and thank
God for them and their sacrifices. At
the end of the day, it's good to be an
American. |