I'm guessing the little soldier is marching with Grampa.
Posted on 10/07/2009 1:31:31 PM PDT by FortWorthPatriot
Four-year old Paige didn't want to say goodbye to her daddy before he was shipped off to Iraq.
A family photo that shows a little girl beside her father and his fellow soldiers in uniform as they prepare to go to war has resonated well beyond the tight knit Bennethum clan.
Four-year-old Paige Bennethum really, really didn't want her daddy to go to Iraq.
So much so, that when Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum lined up in formation at his deployment this July, she couldn't let go.
No one had the heart to pull her away.
The commanding officer allowed Paige to say goodbye as her dad prepared to ship off from Fort Dix.
Paige's mom Abby captured the moment with her camera and her aunt passed the image along to a Berks County, Pa. newspaper.
"I’ve had strangers looking me up online, sending me messages that they are touched by it ... offering a lot of support," Abby Bennethum told NBCPhiladelphia.
The picture took on a life of its own online this week. Abby says that suddenly, people were knocking on her door. "Literally overnight, there's all these people that just want to do anything they can," she says. Though she says her husband hasn't seen any stories about his family yet, he expects to.
For her part, Paige still remembers how she felt that day in July. Looking at the picture of herself – her dad now overseas – Paige remembers, "I didn't want to let go of him."
She calls the work he does transporting supplies across the Iraqi border, "just nice."
But that doesn't change her feelings.
"I just miss my dad right now," she says.
Sgt. Bennethum, 30, is expected home next July. Until then, Paige plans to help her mom take care of her little sister and a new baby that's on the way.
Someone send the pic to that assh*** Michelle so she can learn what “sacrifice” is about and think twice before she uses that word again about herself getting treated like a queen.
Tissue ping.
“I never let him see me cry”
Didn’t let mine see me cry either. I’m not so sure about the next time he’s deployed.
I don’t remember the goodbye’s as much as the homecomings. My mom made up a song for my brother and I to the tune of “She’ll be coming around the mountain” only we sang, “He’ll be coming on a ship when he comes...”
Well we can cry together while they are gone. Then we can cry when they come home and embarrass them! Yeah, I know...immature but it makes me feel better.
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