Free Republic

PALMDALE - The guy who was blinking back tears was a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, a paratrooper from Desert Storm, and joining him was another Army veteran married to a soldier serving in Kuwait and Iraq. Pretty soon, they were both misty. Offices of the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce might have seemed an unusual locale for such public display of emotion, but it resulted from the joy attached to a big "Thank You" shipment going to local troops overseas engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Charles Brown, the Desert Storm vet, got something in his eye during...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Capt. Matthew R. Hook, commander of the 1498th Transportation Company, a National Guard unit in which many Antelope Valley soldiers find themselves serving in Iraq, sent this letter to his sister Marianne, a veteran of Desert Storm. We elected to run this at length because of the unique nature of the experience and the high interest shown by Valley Press readers about their local troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Thought you might like to hear that I'm safe and sound after my trip into Iraq. I know that you may have heard about interesting things happening here, and...