Never Forgotten

It is funny or ironic or something how things happen. Today I received two things in the mail...one the old fashioned postman delivery way and the other via electronic mail. The first delivery came out of my mailbox, my Hero bracelets had arrived. Check out this organization, www.herobracelets.org. you can go on their site and order bracelets to honor heroes who are currently serving in the war, those who have been wounded or those who have been killed in action. The bracelets honor those who have served and memorialize those who have given their lives in battle. The proceeds go to the Intrepid Fallen Hero Fund. I still have the bracelet I wore through high school during the Vietnam War. I often think of that brave young soldier who lost his life in Vietnam (his plane was shot down over Laos and he was MIA for many years)...and I have gone to find him on the wall. Now there are more soldiers who need to be remembered. As I wrote to my adopted soldier over a ten month period of time...I became even more aware of the growing number of soldiers lost to us forever in the service of their country. Some of those soldiers were the names I requested on the Hero bracelets that came today. I did not know them...but, I tried to learn something about who they were... to read about their lives, visit their my space pages and read the tributes paid to them by grieving family and friends. Talking about the bracelet will lead to the telling of each soldier's story, thereby, honoring their sacrifice and keeping them alive in our memories forever. The electronic mail came later this night from my adopted soldier. Sgt. R finally arrived home in February after a 15-month deployment (his third) to Iraq. He had emailed me that night to let me know he was home at last. I hadn't heard anything from him since then, but, I knew I would eventually. So finding that email brought me great joy...knowing that he is enjoying his non-war zone life and he seems to be adjusting to life back in the states. I even got my first picture of him and his family from the day he arrived back in the good old USA! I smile every time I think of Sgt. R, who survived his tour and made it safely home and every time I look at that bracelet on my arm, I will remember those fallen heroes who did not!