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| The
Army Son |
The Creightons were very proud of their son frank. When he went to
college, naturally they missed him; but he wrote and they looked
forward to his letters and saw him on weekends. Then Frank was
drafted into the army.
After he had been in the army about five months, he received his
call to go to Vietnam. Of course, the parents' anxiety for his
first letter was greater than ever before. And ever week they heard
from him and were thankful for his well-being. Then one week went
by without a letter ~ two weeks ~ and finally three. At the end of
the third week a telegram came, saying, "We regret to inform you
that you son has been missing for three weeks and is presumed to
have been killed inaction while fighting for his country."
The parents were shocked and grieved. They tried to accept the
situation and go on living, but it was tragically lonesome without
Frank.
About three weeks later, however, the phone rang. When Mrs.
Creighton answered it, a voice on the other end said, "Mother,
it's Frank. they found me, and I'm going to be all right. I'm in
the United States and I'm coming home soon."
Mrs. Creighton was overjoyed, with tears running down her cheeks
she sobbed, "Oh, that's wonderful! That's just wonderful, Frank."
There was silence for a moment, and then Frank said, "Mother I
want to ask you something that is important to me. While I've
been here, I've met a lot of wonderful people and I've really
become close friends with some. There is one fellow I would like
to bring home with me to meet you and Dad. And I would like to
know if it would be all right if he could stay and live with us,
because he has no place to go."
His mother assured him it would be all right.
Then Frank said, "You see, he wasn't' as lucky as some; he was
injured in battle. He was hit by a blast and his face is all
disfigured. He lost his leg, and his right hand is missing. So
you see, he feels uneasy about how others will accept him."
Frank's mother stopped to think a minute. She began to wonder
how things would work out, and what people in town would think
of someone like that. She said, "Sure frank, you bring him home-
for a visit, that is. We would love to meet him and have him stay
for a while; but about him staying with us permanently, well,
we'll have to think about that." There was silence for a minute,
and then Frank said, "Okay, Mother," and hung up.
A week went by without any word from Frank, and then a telegram
arrived- "We regret to inform you that your son has taken his life.
We would like you to come and identify the body."
Their wonderful son was gone. The horror stricken parents could
only ask themselves, "Why had he done this?" When they walked into
the room to identify the body of their son, they found a young
man with a disfigured face, one leg missing, and his right hand
gone.
-- Unknown |
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