To My Helpers

From the Camp Katrina Blog:

09/29/2005

To My Helpers

Sometimes it's the simplest and most unpolished forms of gratitude that can touch us the most.

After a long, sweaty day of heaving heavy boxes of food and ice and water for thousands of locals

in Diamondhead, Mississippi, we soldiers from Ohio's 73rd Troop Command were feeling tiredbut content.

We had helped a lot of people, and they had all been encouraging and grateful.

Southern hospitality isn't a myth.

As we were cleaning up for the next shift, a smiling woman came and handed me a piece of paper.

"This is from my son, Anthony," she told us. "He's eight years old, and he wanted to thank all of you for givingus food and water today."

We looked at the paper. On it, Anthony had drawn two helmeted soldiers smiling in the sunshine, one of them saluting.

"To my helpers," he had written on the picture. "God bless you and America."

God bless you too, Anthony. We loved being your helpers.