Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 7 · column 2 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
By LISA G. CURRIE
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
There may be someone out there — someone you don’t know, someone who was once close, someone who is very dear — waiting for a word from you.
It may be Lance Cpl. Vincent “Pops” Aylor of Sperryville, a name many Rappahannock readers will recognize. It may Rose Ann Sharps’ younger brother, 1st Lt. Charles Hyde from Newport News. It may be Lance Cpl. Steven Roland, the brother to young Tommy Roland, a student at Rappahannock County Elementary School or Staff Sgt. Bryan Blevins, a familiar face in Amissville and a Randolph-Macon Academy graduate.
It may someone not mentioned, but someone close to your heart.
This year, thousands upon thousands — an estimated 400,000 — American and allied servicemen and women spent Thanksgiving Day staring at sandy ridges, watching for the dangers of snakes and dehydration and the enemy beyond the shimmering sands.
For them, the steaming turkey dinner on the dining table was just a mirage in the desert sands of Saudi Arabia. The prospects of Christmas greenery and holiday cheer is equally unlikely, as the probability of their duty extends through the next holiday season in a country where a Christian Christmas celebration is unacceptable.
This year, a Christmas card, a New Year’s salutation or a birthday greeting could offer just enough encouragement to boost morale for one lone soldier, or for the whole battalion, as Operation Desert Shield keeps American military personal away from their families, in a country restricted by unfamiliar religious and social mores.
In a homegrown effort to boost morale and show support for our countrymen in arms, the Culpeper Minute Men Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution are calling for names, birthdates and addresses of men and women stationed in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Desert Shield. “Basically, anyone can send in a name of a soldier,” DAR member Mrs. Helen Fairfax of Washington said.
The Rappahannock News has collected names of five servicemen with families in the county, and additional names will be published as they are submitted.
“It does not have to be a local person,” Mrs. Fairfax said, adding “anyone can get a letter. It should not matter that they live four, five or six states away. It is someone’s cousin, or nephew or brother or sister or friend somewhere. ”
“We want everyone to send a birthday card or greeting,” she said, adding the movement to correspond with those stationed in the Persian Gulf began after one member’s son was called to active duty there.
4—
95.0%