Dear GI,
Merry Christmas, and God bless you.
I’m writing this from America, from my home, where it is comfortable, quiet and warm. From America. Where it is peaceful, safe and free.
Thanks to you.
Thanks to you and to everyone like you who wears the uniform of the United States. Thanks to everyone like you who has taken up arms in defense of the greatest country on Earth.
My children and I will sleep in our beds tonight free of danger and fear because of you. Just like your loved ones sleep, protected by the power of your courage and commitment. The babies are safe, the mamas are quiet, the grandparents are snug in their homes.
All thanks to you.
And at Christmas time I want you to know that we remember. That we remember, we care and we wait. We wait to welcome you home as the American hero you are.
Because it’s not just about Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s not just about ink-stained fingers and people liberated from the yoke of a horrible government. It’s not just about over there.
It’s about over here.
You are fighting over there so that we aren’t attacked here. You are taking the fight to them so that they can’t bring the fight to us. They want to fight unarmed flight attendants in America, but you’re making them fight battle-ready GIs in their own backyard. And you are crushing them. Day by day, inch by inch, victory by victory.
You are grinding them down.
Their hatred is no match for your love.
Your love of country, cause and comrade. The love you have for your buddies and your family and the flag you wear on your shoulder. The love you have for life the way it’s meant to be lived – free and safe, in the pursuit of happiness.
The love you have for us, who you’ve never met. And the love we have for you.
That’s what you’re fighting for.
We’re who you’re fighting for.
And we remember that each night in our prayers.
Each night in our prayers and each day in our thoughts and each waking moment we remember the gift you are giving us.
At Christmas, and every day.
It’s hard to be away from home, especially at the holidays. It makes your sacrifice all the greater and more difficult to bear. But while the miles may separate you from your home country, you are in our hearts and you will soon be in our arms. This Christmas is an investment in all the Christmases that will follow, when you will be like us, home and safe.
When you will know that freedom is something you’ve paid to support. When you will know the joy of family close at hand, a life lived as you choose, a commitment made and kept.
This one will be hard, but it will make the others all the better. It will forever make Christmas precious, it will give more poignancy to the carols and the cards.
God sent his Son and America has sent you, and people live free as a result. Sometimes you need a Santa Claus and sometimes you need a soldier or a sailor, an airman or a Marine. Sometimes you need to be jolly and sometimes you need to be resolute.
And millions are free this Christmas because of you and the GIs like you. Five years ago they were enslaved by murderous tyrants, now they are their own masters, free to make their own way in life and live as they wish. It’s the biggest gift the world’s seen since your grandfathers freed Europe and Asia in World War II.
And you will be forever honored for it.
For the things done in the first days and for the things being done now.
Even on Christmas.
So merry Christmas, and God bless you and keep you. Stand watch this lonely day and remember the warmth and love of home. Anticipate the joy of return and the joy of a long life lived.
And know that on this holiday and every day that the people of your country love you and admire you, and thank God for you.
You are from us, but you are in our hearts. Please remember that. And when your work is done, come home to us and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Merry Christmas,
A grateful American
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2005
http://www.lonsberry.com
