Proud to be a Soldier !!!
From the daughter of a Soldier..
Last week I was in Trenton, Ontario. attending a
conference.
While
I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people
behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around
and witnessed one of the greatest act's of patriotism I have ever
seen.
Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their
camo's,
as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost
everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and
cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being
applauded and cheered for it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the
only red blooded Canadian who still loves this country and
supports our troops and their families.
Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for
these
young
unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for
us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of
our service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years
old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said
"hi," the little girl then she asked him if he would give
something to her daddy for her. The young soldier, he didn't look
any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did
she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl
grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she
could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name
was
Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Corporal
and had been in Afghanistan for 11 months now. As the mom was
explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her father, the
young soldier began to tear up. When this temporarily single mom
was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled
together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen
pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They started playing
with the device and talking back and forth on it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked
back
over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your
daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this
little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
He finished by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that he
loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon."
The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and
as
the
young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mom. I
was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event
unfolded. As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their
gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding
and looked around, their were very few dry eyes, including my own.
That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around
and blew a kiss to Courtney.
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their
families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end
of the day, it's good to be a Canadian.