Touching a soldier’s heart



by Hayley Fixler
June 1, 2005



Hayley is a 10-year-old fifth-grader at North Chevy Chase Elementary School. She lives in Silver Spring.


For more information, see: Sending TLC


“I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your life to write me a letter. I appreciate it so much. It’s a little bit weird how such simple gestures make me so happy here. I guess it goes along with the notion of never being forgotten, or the fear of being forgotten, which sometimes overwhelms me here …”


— U.S. soldier fighting in Iraq


That excerpt from a letter just shows how a little support can change the day of a deserving United States soldier overseas.


Just imagine coming “home” after a day of hard work or fighting, and at mail call finding that you have a letter waiting there for you. There are many more soldiers who feel like they are being forgotten and not supported and they need our help. Luckily, there are people helping these special men and women, and they are called Soldiers’ Angels.


The organization is made up of about 32,000 volunteers, or Angels, who give their free time for our troops, mostly in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.


Some Angels have a mother, father, sibling, son/daughter or a friend who is or has been in a war and who has returned to the U.S. depressed because of lack of support. Many Angels however, just feel the need to support their fellow Americans, no matter how they feel about the War in Iraq.


Soldiers’ Angels was founded in 2003 by a California mom whose son, Brandon, was fighting in Iraq. She is a great-niece of Gen. George Patton.


When Brandon received mail and packages during mail call, many of his fellow soldiers did not. Upset by this, he wrote to his mother and she called some friends to ask if they would be willing to write and send care packages to the unhappy soldiers. Her friends agreed to help.


Soon these friends began the nonprofit group they named Soldiers’ Angels. Members of the organization can “adopt” one or more soldiers. Adoption means a person is assigned a soldier to take care of — write letters, send e-mails and send care packages to for as long as they are overseas. Some Angels even support their soldiers when they return to the United States.


With Soldiers’ Angels, soldiers have returned home less depressed and without the forgotten feeling.


My mom and I are members of Soldiers’ Angels, the Letter Writing Team and the E-mail Squad and are very proud to be a part of them. We have officially adopted a soldier and unofficially adopted others — writing them numerous letters and sending care packages.


My mom’s friend, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, said, “You don’t know the feeling of opening letters while you are at war.”


A group of fourth-graders from North Carolina wrote to him and he was so happy to get letters that he is going to visit them. Even something as little as a letter can put a smile on a soldier’s face.


“Thank you for everything. You brought a giant smile to my face. … So just about everything shows that people out there care.”
— U.S. soldier fighting in Iraq who is assigned to me and my mother as part of the Soldiers’ Angels Letter Writing Team


Touching a soldier�s heart