SOLDIERS SALUTE ANONYMOUS DONORS.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
With our troops in Iraq Iraq or Irak (both: ēräk`, ĭrăk`), officially Republic of Iraq, republic (2005 est. pop. 26,075,000), 167,924 sq mi (434,924 sq km), SW Asia. and Afghanistan facing danger and loneliness, it's great to be able to pass along an e-mail from a young soldier with a different sort of problem: He's not sure who to thank. Army Capt. Craig Van Kirk's company has been getting scores of packages containing letters and goodies good·y 1 Informal interj. Used to express delight. n. also good·ie pl. good·ies Something attractive or delectable, especially something sweet to eat. . But the troops don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. who sent them. ``We don't want them to think that we haven't received the packages or don't appreciate them. We do, more than you know. If I were back home and spent all the time and effort to send this stuff to our troops, I'd want to know that they got it,'' said Craig, who has been serving in Iraq since September. So, Craig wants everyone to know that the men and women in his company appreciate those letters and packages they're getting from people they don't know. ``They are huge for morale,'' he added. ``The only thing I can compare it to would be a police officer in a very bad part of town working 12- to 15-hour days, then coming home to goodies from people he never met, thanking him for what he does.'' Beautifully put, Craig. It is important - vital, really - that people back home hear from the troops overseas. It makes us all feel like we're doing something to help - even something as small as sending them goodies from home. ``Usually the troops are so busy they can't write individually, so the leader of a squad will write to tell us thanks on behalf of everyone,'' says Carolyn Blashek, who began Operation Gratitude Operation Gratitude is a non-profit, all-volunteer corporation that assembles and ships care packages to United States service members deployed overseas. Its mission is to lift morale and express appreciation of the work done by the American armed services. in the living room of her Encino home a few years ago. What started as sending packages to troops who were receiving no mail from home has caught fire. More than 200 volunteers gathered for four days last month at the California Army National Guard The California Army National Guard is a component of the California National Guard, the United States Army and the United States National Guard. The California Army National Guard is composed of about 20,000 soldiers. Armory in Van Nuys where they prepared 19,000 holiday packages to send overseas. Overall, 40,900 packages have been sent to troops. All of them have a note from a child or adult inside. But many forget to include a return address so the soldier can send a personal thank you, so they e-mail Carolyn. ``I am a U.S. Army helicopter pilot stationed in Iraq,'' writes one soldier. ``Please tell your friends that their gifts and kind words are as essential to our mission as the bullets and equipment we use. ``Now I need to ask you for a favor. I have before me a beautiful little card written by a child from California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). . It was included in the package with your card. With her little hands she drew a picture of an American flag and wrote a note thanking me for my service. ``Would you please get a nice Christmas card and mail it to Irena for me? This child's card and note has touched my heart, and I would love to let her know in time for Christmas. ``Please tell her how happy she made me, and that I will always keep this card by my side.'' It's e-mails like this that break her heart, Carolyn says, because she has no way of reaching the little girl. Cpl. L.K. e-mailed Carolyn to tell her that he and all the soldiers in his squad were ``dumbfounded'' by the packages they received. ``It is amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. that complete strangers would take the time and effort to send us these wonderful boxes. The letters that were enclosed en·close also in·close tr.v. en·closed, en·clos·ing, en·clos·es 1. To surround on all sides; close in. 2. To fence in so as to prevent common use: enclosed the pasture. in my box almost brought me to tears.'' Or this from a combat medic A combat medic is a trained soldier who is responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. Also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and non battle injury. with a ground operations unit in Afghanistan. ``It is Thanksgiving Thanksgiving annual U.S. holiday celebrating harvest and yearly blessings; originated with Pilgrims (1621). [Am. Culture: EB, IX: 922] See : America Thanksgiving national holiday with luxurious dinner as chief ritual. [Am. Pop. , and I just finished eating at the chow hall. Most of us were pulled from the field for a few days. We laughed and joked, and so far we have had no rocket attacks today. Yet. ``We all shared thanks about being safe, and hoping our families are, too. We wished each other a warm night and a safe tour. When I returned to my unit, I had a package from Operation Gratitude sitting on my bunk bunk, bunker large storage bin. bunk forage forage, usually ensilage stored in a large storage bunk and made available to cattle or other livestock along a face of the storage. . ``I opened it and the letters and goodies you sent blew me away. I cannot thank you enough for that. There are times when I do wonder if anyone knows we are out here. After receiving those letters, it made me feel so much pride to know that there are people back home who still think about us. ``You have made my Thanksgiving night. I will never forget this.'' Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com HOW TO HELP --To help make the holidays brighter for thousands of troops overseas, send a check to Operation Gratitude, 16444 Refugio Road, Encino, CA 91436. To read more e-mails from troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, visit our Web site for a link to the mail call section of www.opgratitude.com. CAPTION(S): box Box: HOW TO HELP (see text) |
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