Students at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School at Gallaudet University had used e-mail and a school Web log to get first-hand accounts of the insurgency in Iraq and the daily survival of a U.S. Marine stationed there.
I covered this unique story in my blog recently detailing examples of what Sgt. Beatty had to go through while in Iraq. But what was never covered was how this penpal relationship got started.
The correspondence with Sgt. Beatty began when Kendall teacher Philip Bogdan, 46, heard that his good friend was being deployed to Iraq last August.
"I freaked out when I found out he was being deployed," Mr. Bogdan said. "I wanted to know how we could support him, how I could help. Then I thought of the kids at school."
What began as a way to keep in touch with a friend blossomed into a seven-month lesson in culture and world affairs for the students.
The 6th, 7th and 8th graders who are deaf or have partial hearing loss, used their signing via interpreters to say "thank you" to a very humbled and teary-eyed Sgt. Beatty and his wife, Donna, 30, for including them in their lives while corresponding with the students of the successes, horrors and hope in Iraq. Sgt Beatty had this to say:
People who went to Vietnam didn't get thanks. Just to see how important this was to these kids means a lot. But to have a young man come up and give me a hug who has a hearing impediment and may not get the chances I have, and have him thank me for what I'm doing -- wow!
The kids at KDES learned to appreciate their U.S. troops serving in Iraq with the help of Sgt. Beatty's e-mails and the pictures he sent home. What they have earned is a new friend.
Semper Fi, Sgt Beatty! The people of Kokonut Pundits salutes you for your efforts and gallantry.
Please pray for our troops in Iraq. My 22-year old nephew is serving his second tour of duty in Iraq as a homegrown U.S. Marine. Everybody in my family, including his Father (my brother) who was also a Marine, are proud of him.
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