Dear Soldier, both Present and Past:

I write this to thank you, finally at last.
I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to write.
Thank you for your willingness to lay down your life, and for my freedom that you fight.

Never mind the nay Sayers who say that you’re not right.
You are my hero, my hope, and my shining light.

Thank you for leaving your family and comforts of home,
in exchange for day-to-day uncertainty in the distant lands you now must roam.

My eyes fill with tears, my heart aches
each time I see one of you come home in a box for my freedom sake.

The bible said, “greater Love has no man than to lay down his life for another.”
Yellow, black or white in the heat of battle you all become brothers.

My father, who is now passed, is a veteran of WWII.
He fought to give me freedom, and for children he never knew.

Where would this country be if you had not been willing to fight?
We could be living in poverty, tyranny and fright.
We have seen through the ages man’s inhumanity to man and all of the horrors,
On 911 it was brought home to our shores.

All the “Protesters” who say you are wrong,
It is you dear Soldier who give them freedom to sing their ungrateful song.
Close your ears and your eyes to their chant, none of us like war and the sadness it brings, but to give up our freedom???? We just can’t.

Freedom doesn’t come cheap, there is a high price to pay.
To tell someone that their love-one is gone is life’s most difficult thing to say.

For all of you dear souls who won’t be home this “Holiday Season”, please know that you are appreciated and you are there with purpose and reason.
I pray for you to come home and the time will be swift.
I thank you for the sacrifice of your time, and those who have given their life, the ultimate gift.

Thank you for making the world a safer place to be.
In my eyes you are all heroes you see.
You give us “The Gift” of freedom to live in the world’s greatest country day after day.
“God Bless you all, God Bless the USA!”

Grateful American
Dori Rewald