|
Dallas Lacrosse Supporting Troops
Sunday, February 1, 2009
By: System Administrator
In 1967, Linda Patterson’s little brother, Army Sgt. Joe Artavia, was off fighting in Vietnam.
Looking for a way to support the troops, she convinced her hometown of San Mateo, Calif., to adopt his unit. The mayor issued a proclamation and residents sent letters and care packages to his unit, the 101st Airborne Division.
Joe told his sister the letters raised their morale “as high as the clouds."
Three weeks later, he was killed in action. He was 19.
Linda then did the unthinkable. She took a Pam Am flight to Saigon to pay tribute to her brother and his fellow soldiers. Arriving at the U.S. base Camp Eagle near the city of Hue, Linda said she would never forget the image she saw as the soldiers came to greet her.
“They were unshaven," she recalled. “And so young, like my brother."
She presented them with medallions from the city of San Mateo and they told her stories about how their support touched them.
“They shyly walked up to me and pulled out pictures of the kids that were writing to them," she said. “They told me, ‘I read their letters over and over out in the jungle.’ It was really a life-changing experience for me."
Her hometown support group has since grown into a national non-profit called “America Supporting Americans."
Cities across the country have adopted units from Vietnam - and now Iraq and Afghanistan. Corporations and schools can also sign up and support soldiers in the battlefield.
“It’s a connection," Linda said. “It brings the heart of America to the heart of the battlefield, wherever that may be."
The support group keeps Linda busy - it’s a full-time job now. But she doesn’t do it alone.
“There have been times when I’ve been so down and I ask myself how is America Supporting Americans going to make it, then I sit down at my computer and I swear I feel my brother’s hand on my shoulder."
“He’s always there," she said.
|
|
|
