“A Gift, That Gave”
by Dan Ramey, WBEX-AM Chillicothe, Ohio

I was listening to our station on my way home one afternoon, catching the Rush Limbaugh program, hosted this particular day by Roger Hedgecock. The reliable Rush stand-in was relaying an email sent to him by the parents of a Marine stationed in Iraq. His gripping story caught my attention when there was mention of a stuffed animal.

Upon hearing the story, I immediately called a friend of mine who’s President of the Ross County Chapter of Blue Star Mothers. The Blue Star Mothers were in full force during and following World War II, as a support force for our boys overseas. Occasionally, you’ll see a red trimmed flag with a blue star on its white background, signifying a soldier in the family. Viewers of “Saving Private Ryan” might recall seeing four blue stars on the flag of the Ryan House.

The President, Robin Buskirk, along with other volunteers, revived our local Blue Star Chapter, when her son Bradley was sent to Iraq in 2003. She’s since become a welcome guest on my show, “Dan and Mike in the Morning”.

Robin began a campaign to collect socks for the troops when she heard from her son that the desert sand was eating through the military-issued socks for those patrolling the Middle East. Together, with the help of a number of schools, churches and other volunteers, we collected over five thousand pairs of socks for our troops. The local VFW and American Legion Posts donated funds for shipping the socks. The project was named “Socks on Patrol”.

Robin would hear from some of the men and women who gratefully received our shipments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A following correspondence related to Robin the despair of those who live “in country”. The soldier said “… the kids don’t even have a teddy bear.” Like sparks from smitten steel, she had her next idea, “Operation Teddy Bears”.

Again, our listening community came to the rescue.

Robin even arranged for an Air Force pilot, headed for Baghdad, to deliver a shipment for us. Soldiers carried the teddy bears with them as they patrolled, handing them to children from the Sunni Triangle to other parts of the country. Soldiers even sent us pictures of children who received the stuffed animals.

Here is the part of Hedgecock’s story that struck me. The Marine explained to his parents, he and others were receiving stuffed animals from back home, handing them to the children they came in contact with. While the children accepted the gifts, their faces would light up and a new friendship was founded.

One day while on patrol, a convoy of Marines came to a halt. This is a dangerous circumstance. Our boys could be set up for an ambush in the urban area. The commander radioed to the lead vehicle asking what the hold up was. The lead vehicle responded there was a little girl in the middle of the road.

In some not so kind words, the commander charged his leader to go around the girl, as to not hold up the convoy, exposing its vulnerability.

As the convoy passed the girl, one of the Marines recognized the little girl from the teddy bear he’d handed to her. He conveyed that he knew the girl and would find out why she was in the middle of the road, holding up the convoy.

After conversing with the little girl, the Marine said she pointed to a spot in the road. She was sitting in front of a land mine, set for an unaware convoy of Marines.

A little girl, holding such a small offering of peace, putting her life between danger and her new friends, wearing the uniform of the greatest free country on earth!

Now, perhaps that teddy bear wasn’t from our “Operation Teddy Bears”, but I like to think it could’ve been. A symbol of something we all fell in love with as a child… one of our first friendships. It reached out to someone who’s never known such love.

Its payback was tremendous. Ask every Marine in that convoy.