Posted on 11/10/2004 3:53:09 PM PST by american_ranger
I posted this on November 1:
Tomorrow I and my wife will vote for George W. Bush. Tonight, I heard on the radio that an Army soldier was killed in an ambush in southeast Afghanistan. My son is stationed in southeast Afghanistan. I checked Fox news and they have an article about a US soldier killed and two wounded in a patrol near Orgun. My son is on a patrol near Orgun. I do not care if it is him, tomorrow we will still vote for Bush. God bless America and God bless President Bush.
I have not told my wife. She is worried enough that Kerry might win. She does not need this additional worry.
We received a phone call a few days ago from my son. It was not his unit that suffered the loss but it was a unit also stationed at his base. He made light of the loss in an attempt to reassure his mother. It worked on her but Dad can see through his talk. (And that is the way it is supposed to be).
I am just now getting back to FreeRepublic and am overwhelmed by the number and seriousness of the responses in the posting as well as freepmail.
My thanks to you all. Overwhelmed is not doing justice to how I feel.
Many people pointed out that the loss was somebody’s son even if was not mine. My prayers that night were a mixture of not wanting it to be my son and for the Lord to hold close whomever’s family had lost their loved one.
On Friday, November 5, (before we received his call) his mother and I helped all day at the War Memorial in Milwaukee. Radio station 620 WTMJ was conducting a Support Our Troops event. The company where I work has sponsored three units overseas since April. A contact at WTMJ knew this and asked us to help out with packaging. My wife and I worked from 7:00AM until 4:00PM and, with the help of a lot of others, packed about 180 boxes. We left due to exhaustion and did not know the final results until Monday. The drive received over 10,500 pounds of donations and, as of today, $34,000 in cash. We are returning this Sunday to continue packaging. I calculate that we have about 7,500 pounds left to box up. We are going to make some soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines very happy. The quality of the donations were excellent. My educated guess is that 99% was purchased that day for the event. Brand new clothing, food, personal hygiene items, games, DVDs, reading material, and a lot more were donated.
The most touching point that day occurred when a woman came up to one of the organizers and gave her a pocket Bible. This woman told her that she wanted to give this Bible to a soldier. The organizer said that one of the women packaging things up had a son in Afghanistan and that she would give it to her. The lady left without giving her name. The organizer gave the Bible to my wife for our son. When my wife opened it up, the page that traditionally holds the name of the owner had been pasted over with a hand written note. The note said, “This Bible kept my father safe through all of World War II. My prayer is that it will do the same for you.”
God bless America!
Thank God all is well for your son. May he continue in safety.
THANK GOD!, I remember reading your post.
May God bless you, your family and your son who left as a boy and came back as a patriot.
God bless. Thank you for letting us know.
Praise God!
Great news, and I hope you hear only that til the day he comes back to you.
AR,
Thanks for the update... I was concerned because we had not heard back about this at all. God bless you and your family and I am glad that you got the good news...My prayers will be with you as long as you son is over there.
God bless you and your son.
bless you and your family and please thank your son for his service to our country
May God bless and protect your precious family.
I pray that your son remains safe there and comes home to a long life as a hero. I pray that God comforts the family that lost a brave son.
I thought about it a lot.
Thank God and thank you and your family for your sacrifices for our country.
Great news! Here is your original post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1265635/posts
I like to think you were rewarded for your courage. You clearly got the ending you deserve. God bless.
Great to hear your good news report. Thanks for updating us. I too remember your post.
Thank you and ur family for their service to our country.
Your son is a true hero to us freepers.
I'm busy raising men, not boys. Posted 1998:
'nuff said.
Thank you for posting. God answered our prayers. May He see fit to bring your son home to a wonderful family.
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