JULIEANN
When I was 19, and going to a school in Kansas City, Mo. my friend and I would get candy out of the candy machine and send it to Co A, 5th Bn, 7th Cav, 1st Air Cav. Div. who were fighting in Vietnam. The pictures from those men along with the cards and letters are still precious to me. We sent letters to over 187 service members who were fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. After many years and the beginning of the Gulf war, I got our hotel to "adopt" a marine unit. We would send them boxes once a month. When they came home, there was a big party for them put on by the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa. To be in the same huge ballroom with these marines in their uniforms along with the Vietnam vets was a night I will never forget.
A Marine Lt. Col. stood and called his men to attention. They all turned and saluted the vets. it brought the wounded warriors to tears. Then it got quiet as the marines took their seats. All of a sudden someone from the back of the ballroom at a table called out "ATTENTION.". You saw Vietnam vets stand, some with only one leg, one on his cart, as he had no legs, some missing arms. They all stood or at least tried. They turned to the Marines and saluted them back. The room became silent as the Lt. Col. turned and with misty eyes saluted a man at the table across the room. Then the two men walked to each other and threw their arms around each other.
As it turns out, they served together in Vietnam and neither knew what happened to the other until that night. They spent the rest of the evening with their wives catching up and "swapping stories."
During the evening I was to give a speech, which I hate. But when it came time, I instead gave a toast to Pvt. Doyle Travis Anderson who during Vietnam would write me letters and told me that when he came home they would have a big parade for him, just like in the movies for John Wayne. He knew he was a hero for what he was doing. It's just too bad the rest of America didn't know it.
Doyle Travis Anderson was the driver of the truck for deliveries and U.S.O. tours coming in. He had a pet monkey. He never got that parade as he hit a land mine and was killed in 1968. So I said "This is to Pvt. Doyle Travis Anderson. Welcome home, Pvt."
How the Adoptions Started
In 2003, my son was called up to go to the middle East. "It now hits closer to home for me." When I went to Fort Riley, Kansas to say goodbye to my son, I met a young man who didn't have any family there to say goodbye to him. I asked if I could "adopt" him and another who was there with his wife and son and going back for his second time. That is how it started. With 2 troopers then 4, then 10, then 20, and then 150. It has now grown to over 40,000 troops that have asked to receive boxes for themselves and others in their units. With each new Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, and Marine that comes in, we have doubled the numbers of those who want to be "Adopted."
