Fraser – Heading off to war, uncertain and scared, the soldiers found 100 reasons to smile in the colorful hand-drawn cards and messages plastered on the inside of the United Airlines jet.
“Will you come to my birthday party?” wrote one of the students from Fraser Valley Elementary School.
“Do you have brothers and sisters?” wrote another. “My brother is a brat.”
“Are you scared?”
Flight attendant Melissa Dart watched as the soldiers on that flight to Germany and then Kuwait read over the cards and reflected about their own children or nieces and nephews as tears welled in their eyes.
On Monday, as about 250 students at the school observed Veteran’s Day with a flag-waving, anthem-singing pat on the back for local vets, Dart brought back the heartwarming show of gratitude from those soldiers.
She presented the school with a flag signed by the troops on that September flight, as well as a sheaf of neatly written responses that were pinned to a display board.
“Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us,” wrote an Army specialist named Ortiz. “We appreciate all of the letters that were on the plane. Please pray for us. We are going to a dangerous place, and we will be needing a lot of prayer.”
Another, named Patrick, wrote that he was a “very nervous 28-year-old” and wrote about his wife and three young children.
“You asked if I was scared and said that you would be,” wrote Sgt. Bruce Parker. “My answer is yes. We all are. Most are just afraid to say so.”
Typically, soldiers on the special “military aircraft charters” heading over to the Middle East are somber and focused, Dart said.
So earlier this year, she approached the school in her hometown of Fraser to inquire about kids drafting letters to help lift the soldiers’ spirits.
“(The soldiers) respond to it,” she said. “It’s something special for them.”
The messages were another way to understand patriotism and connect with world events, students in kindergarten through fifth grade said Monday at a ceremony in which they honored eight veterans.
“It makes you feel really happy and really proud,” said Danny Pufpaff, a retired Army sergeant who lost his left leg and damaged his right one after hitting a land mine in Vietnam in 1973.
The 57-year-old recovered at Fitzsimons Army Hospital and went on to help develop the U.S. Disabled Ski Team and coach other disabled athletes on the slopes at nearby Winter Park ski area.
“It’s so nice to see these kids get instilled with some patriotism and not be ashamed of that,” said Jim McBride, 68, a former Marine pilot, before shaking hands with every student as they filed out of the gym.
Dart said she always looks forward to the days that she escorts the soldiers back home. “The whole plane erupts in claps and cheers and whistles and shouts,” she said, “and you sit there almost in tears.”
Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
