THE QUESTION has been asked for years: What can ordinary people do to help the troops?
The president’s early admonition to shop and keep the economy strong did not seem to be a useful response, especially for a people with a national memory of food, rubber and gasoline rationing, victory gardens, war bonds and scrap drives during World War II.
Shopping? Shopping is what Americans do by nature. Asking an American to shop is like asking a humming bird to sip nectar.
What people really want is a chance to sacrifice — even in a small way — to repay some of the sacrifices made in their name by the men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and other dangerous postings around the world.
Now there is something the people of Emporia can do, something that will provide comfort for wounded and sick soldiers in Iraq.
On Wednesday, The Gazette printed a letter from Master Sgt. Sherry Hertlein, an Emporia soldier who is stationed in a medical unit at LSA Anaconda, a support camp near the air base at Balad, Iraq.
This is what she asked for: freezer pops, flip-flops, pillows, books and magazines, used handheld video games — things to make the days and nights a little easier for wounded and sick soldiers. Hertlein also asked for some toys to cheer Iraqi children treated by the unit.
Not much of a sacrifice, is it? Come to think of it, it even involves shopping.
Hertlein is not asking the community to band together to ship a pallet load of freezer pops to northern Iraq. By the time the logistics were ironed out, it would be winter in Iraq and the patients at the base would be longing for hot chocolate instead. She is just asking people in Emporia to go down to the post office, buy a pre-paid box and fill it with freezer pops or flip-flops or books and magazines, and send it to her.
The packages should get there in about seven days.
Here is a chance to do something.
And here is the address, for those who missed it Wednesday:
Master Sgt. Sherry Hertlein
332nd EMDG/ICW
APO, AE 09315-9997
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