A New Excerpt

 A friend who re-deployed safely a few years ago writes to his children:

            I did not join the Army to be away from you or to kill anyone, but that is what our country needs me to do right now. I joined the Army to serve my country, which I love. The United States is truly the greatest country on earth. We have luxuries here the rest of the world can only dream about. I am not fighting to keep these people from these things; I am fighting to keep these things safe for you. For over two hundred years men and women have fought for this nation, we are all reaping the opportunities and benefit that their blood, and their lives provided. I am compelled by something much greater than desire for self- preservation to attempt to live up to the memory and sacrifices made by those honored heroes, and if necessary, take my place among them. My service is not the result of macho bravado. It is a sense of duty and devotion to country and the realization that my life is not simply to be lived for my pleasure. It must have a deeper meaning. My life is not mine to hoard, it is my country’s to use. 

 

Please keep these beautiful letters coming!

 

Daniel Gade

Welcome You Served Radio Listeners!

Thanks for visiting- if you’re interested in my project, please get in touch!

Daniel Gade

Please keep them coming (and pass the word!)

Friends,

I have begun to receive letters, and great interest in my book project!  Here is a short excerpt from a letter I received recently:

Always remember how much I adore you.  Please don’t be sad, that I am dead, be happy that we had so many great years together.  There are people who live for 100 years and don’t have half the happiness and love we have enjoyed together over the years.  I will always love you, and remember, I will always be in your heart as you are in mine.

In this letter, the soldier in question actually wrote a greeting to be read at his funeral as well, and it is a powerful, moving, and funny one.

I am so looking forward to honoring military families and service members in this effort. If you’d like to help me, please post this to your facebook or twitter or send it out to your friends!

Please help me in my quest to get as many of these priceless letters as I possibly can-

Daniel Gade

Why Do People Write These Letters?

I’ve had a number of people ask me this question.  My colleague “Froggy” at www.blackfive.net and my friend Chuck Z. at www.tcoverride.blogspot.com in particular hinted at this question.  Both shared the same concern- that the proper time to express love for your family is every day, all the time.  “Froggy” also indicated that in certain military cultures, writing such a letter is considered bad luck.

I’d like to address both of their thoughts: first, I totally agree that we should each take every opportunity to love and care for those close to us. Our spouses and children should hear that we love them and that they are special to us every day.  I wrote my letter because I wanted them to know that I loved them one last time- that the last thing going through my head before I set my hand to the difficult task of combat was my love for them.  I wanted to give them more than just words- a written record of how I felt so that in the dark days after my death they would have something to lean on.  For my wife, I wanted a record of my love…but also written confirmation that I wanted her to get remarried and find a great dad for our daughter.  On the issue that such letters are ‘bad luck’, I respectfully disagree.  I believe that God has a plan for my life and that ‘luck’ really has nothing to do with it.  Even if ‘luck’ does exist, I still feel that my wife deserved a thoughtful letter…so I wrote it! 

Thank you to those who’ve sent letters already- I greatly appreciate it!

Daniel Gade

The Letters Have Begun to Arrive!

Thank you to all who have expressed interest in this project!  I am so honored to have the chance to read these heartfelt letters, and think that they express the nature of service far better than anything else that I’ve seen.  I’ve begun to receive letters from friends and colleagues, and even from strangers!  Thanks so much!

Thanks to www.blackfive.net for getting the word out!

 

Daniel Gade

What You Can Do to Help

I’m currently in the process of collecting “Last Letters Home” from those who have returned from combat alive (whether wounded or not) and from the families of those killed in action. 

If you’d like your letter to appear in the book, please send it to me in whatever way you wish: you can e-mail it to me at daniel.m.gade@gmail.com or mail it to me at 3357 East Continental Road, West Point NY 10996.

With your letter, please enclose instructions to me on your identity: if you want the names changed, I need to know that. 

Daniel Gade

How This Project Started

[Bumped to the Top and Updated]

Before I was deployed to Iraq in 2004, I wrote a letter to my wife, Wendy, to be opened only ‘In the Event of My Death’.  In it, I expressed my love and admiration for her, my gratitude for our life together, and my fondest hopes for her future with our daughter.  In the summer of 2011, while we were moving to West Point, I discovered the letter in a binder and allowed her to read it- her reaction to the letter is where this book idea came from.

I began to contemplate the hundreds of thousands of Soldiers, Marines, and other service members who have written this kind of letter to their families, and the sacrifices of all of those spouses and children during repeated long deployments.  Whether the service member is wounded, killed, or comes home unscathed: he or she has sacrificed greatly, and his or her family has as well.  Too often, these sacrifices are unsung.

The purpose of this book is to honor the sacrifice of our American heroes by letting others see a small portion of their sacrifice.  The book concept is simple: I intend to simply publish 30-50 of these letters with no commentary whatsoever: no politics, no opinion, and no spin.  The letters will stand on their own.

Proceeds will be donated to charities that serve military families. 

Daniel Gade