 All Contents © Copyright 2008, Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. |
|
|
|
|
|
Project D.E.E.P. students connect with Dorchester soldiers To the Editor: At the beginning of the year, our students in Project D.E.E.P. were asked to write letters to Dorchester soldiers who were currently serving overseas in Iraq. Over a hundred such letters were submitted, and they were all sent to 14 different servicemen and women&emdash;all with Dorchester ties, all serving in some capacity in the war. The assignment came up when we heard that one of our former students, Anthony Beatrice, was serving in the Marines in Iraq. Anthony was a student here in the late-'90s. Back then he was a good student and an even better young man, mature beyond his years. It was no surprise that he ended up in the Marines, and I hope he was not surprised that we were thinking of him. He may have been surprised by the amount of reading he had to do though. The kids really poured their hearts out in their letters and truly conveyed how appreciative they all were for the service that soldiers like Anthony have given to our country. Men and women like Anthony should make us all proud, and these local children should make us proud too. Two of these children wrote letters that appear below. These children received letters from one of the soldiers, a Dorchester man named William Doherty. William and Anthony both wrote to Project D.E.E.P. as well. Their brief notes to us (along with pictures of them in Iraq) appear below the student letters. - John S. Hanlon
Hello soldier! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! My name is Elizabeth Connolly; I am 10 years old. I attend St. Ann's School on Neponset Avenue in Dorchester. I have one brother named John, who is eight years old. My father is a Boston Police Detective. My mother works part-time at a day care center. My parents are Mary and Tom Connolly. I love my family very much. It must be very hard to be away from your loved ones for so long and during the holiday season. Soldier, I was given an assignment for school to write to you for this holiday season. I am very excited to write you this letter because my dad served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. My dad explained to me how hard it can be for a soldier to be away from his or her family and loved ones for a long period of time. I would like you to know that my family and I appreciate your commitment to serve our country!!! Thank you very much! You and your fellow soldiers are the best!!! Soldier, I would like to tell you a little about myself. I like to play a lot of sports like karate, baseball, basketball, hockey, softball, and lacrosse. I have been doing karate since I was four years old, and I will be a black belt this year. I have been playing hockey since I was six years old. I play on three hockey teams, and I really enjoy the game of hockey. I also try really hard in my academics for school. My dad won't let me play any sports unless I keep my grades up in school. Speaking of sports, living in Boston is the best for a sports fan. The Boston Red Sox, the Boston Bruins, the New England Patriots, and the Boston Celtics are doing great!! The New England Patriots finished the regular season 16-0. This is the best regular season record ever in the National Football League!! The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2007 when they swept the Colorado Rockies four games to zero for the championship. The Celtics received Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in trades, and since these trades the Celtics' record is 26 wins and three losses. The Bruins have improved a lot this year; they have a good chance at making the playoffs. Boston is definitely a great place to be a sports fan! Soldier, I would like to tell you how much it means to me that you are fighting in Iraq for our country. It means so much to me that you are fighting for people whom you don't even know. I know that if you or your fellow soldiers weren't fighting in Iraq the world wouldn't be as safe a place. I know that your family must miss you very much. May God bless you! I hope you can come back home to your family soon. I am going to give you my address, if you want to write back to me. I promise I will write back to you. Love,
Dear American Hero, My name is Michael Murray. I am a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Boston. I would like to thank you for the freedom and safety you have provided for my family, my friends and myself. I would like to wish you a happy and safe holiday season. Christmas passed almost a week ago, and today was the first of the New Year The presidential elections are very close. The candidates are all airing their advertisements for why they are the one deserving to be the future president and Commander-In-Chief. The candidates have their own strengths and weaknesses. They each may do a good thing for our country, and they each may cause something bad in our country. I hope they all will do something for you and your comrades. I'm sure you are able to find out all the results of the elections. But there are many things going on with the elections. As the primary approaches in Massachusetts, there are many fundraising parties for the candidates. Even though I am not able to affect the final decision, I am hoping that Sen. John McCain is our next president. I am really hoping that our next president will do what is best for you. I would like to thank you for the defense you provide to our great form of government. I am a boy who loves sports. Being from Boston results in me being a fan of all Boston teams. I play hockey, lacrosse, and baseball. I play almost anything with my friends. As you may know, the Patriots have gone undefeated in the regular season, 16-0. This has caused all sorts of controversy. People debate if the Patriots '07-'08 is really the best team ever. I, being a Patriots fan, believe that we have the greatest NFL team ever. But there are so many variables that come into the conversation. Entire issues of Sports Illustrated Kids have been donated to this debate. So many people in other countries can't have sports and discussions about sports. So, I would like to thank you for the sacrifice you make so the rest of us can live a carefree life. Hopefully the conditions aren't too bad or your area too dangerous. Feel free to pass this letter around to the other guys in your unit when you're done with it. I hope this letter has made your service overseas a little better. Sincerely,
Project DEEP, I just finished reading the letters that you sent from the students in your program. I really appreciated all of the support from these great kids. I was born in Dorchester and lived there all of my life until I entered the U.S. Army, so it was extra special to get these letters from these kids. I would like you to tell the students that when soldiers are away from home it is the support of great Americans like them that keeps us going during tough times. This is my fourth combat tour (three during Operation Iraqi Freedom and one during Operation Desert Storm) and I can tell you that letters like these are very uplifting and my soldiers and I really appreciate students taking time out of their busy lives to send us letters. I have been here 14 months and I will be returning to the U.S. next month. When I'm not deployed over here, I'm stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. Once again, Thank you very much and if there is anything that I can do to support your organization when I'm in Boston please let me know. V/R
Hey John and everybody else at DEEP, Thanks so much for your letter. It meant a lot to me and all of my fellow U.S. Marines. After high school I figured I would do something very special with my life and joined up with the Marines. But wow I did have a lot of reading to do as I did back in the day. But honestly it was great to have the kids write letters to me and all my boys. We honestly read every one and put some up on our makeshift walls.... Anyway I am almost done with this deployment (thank God), it's been a long time. They (U.S. Marines) stay in country for about seven months. I'm just going to be glad to get back and enjoy the free air. We as Americans take a lot for granted be it the grass or just watching our family and loved ones play at the park... that doesn't happen here at all. But I have to run to finish up our operations before we start to pack up and leave this great place (ha ha). I'll be home in Boston around May 28 - June 18. Your friend,
What do you think? Why not write
your own letter to the editor?
|