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PEARL HARBOR VETERAN WANTS CHANCE TO SAY
THANKS -- The note said: "Thank you for your
service
to our country. We truly appreciate our freedom."
E. H. Brown
For more about Pearl Harbor veterans, use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
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Story here...
http://www.dothaneagle.com/content/gul
fcoasteast/dea/lifestyle.apx.-content-articles-DEA-2008-02-11-0001.html
Story below:
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Pearl Harbor veteran wants chance to say thanks
By Linnea McClellan
These days E.H. Brown doesn’t think much about
his service in Pearl Harbor.
The memories are the kind that can wake him up in a cold sweat at night
even after all these years.
But two weeks ago, a thoughtful anonymous reminder filled him with so much
gratitude, Brown wants to thank the stranger in person.
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That won’t be easy, since he has no idea who left
a note on the windshield of his car.
Usually Brown gets a wave from drivers who see the Pearl Harbor license
plate on his car. Once a trooper up north pulled him over to talk about
his grandfather’s service in the war.
But this gesture touched him like no other.
Brown’s wife Dorothy spotted the note as she returned to the car from
shopping. In large cursive writing, the note said:
“Thank you for your service to our country. We truly appreciate our
freedom!”
It was simply signed: “The Smith Family”
“I knew it would mean the world to him,” she said.
Among his many health problems, Brown stays tied to an oxygen tank as a
result of complications from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. About
the only time he leaves the house is to go to the doctor.
Brown is one of five remaining Pearl Harbor veterans in the area and the
only one in Dothan. When one of them dies, they lose their group charter,
Brown said.
But of all the official commendations and a scrapbook filled with photos
from military and civic ceremonies to honor veterans, sometimes the simple
tributes mean the most.
Brown smiles while proudly showing a visitor the thick stack of drawings
and letters sent from students at Ashford Elementary School who heard him
speak during a visit to the school.
Now he hopes to have a chance to thank the person responsible for leaving
the note on his car. He contacted the Dothan Eagle with the idea that
whoever it was might call the paper and leave a phone number so he could
call and tell them in person how much he appreciates their considerate
gesture.
“You’d be surprised how much this means to me,” Brown added as he held the
note, tears welling up in his eyes.
For more information, call Linnea McClellan, Dothan Eagle Accent editor,
712-7902.
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posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
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