| Dear Robert, |
(continued)
Copyright © 2007, 2008 by Michael Domino
| She told me it was a present to you from the people you were helping. It is a soldier on a gallant-looking, white armored horse, with the word "valor" inscribed on top. Soon I will get the foreign inscription translated. I will always treasure it; thank you for thinking of me and leaving me this precious gift. For a while I thought you had forgotten about me, and I feared that was why my letters went unanswered for so long. Every once in a while, your mother would call and ask us to send you supplies that you asked for, especially books, since you’d written that you had a lot of free time on your hands and reading was a way to kill it. She told me that you often would pass along your greetings to me and ask her how I was doing. I always felt better when I heard that. She said that being stationed at headquarters was boring and routine, but that, thank God, you were there, bored and reading paperbacks, instead of where the fighting was. If your mother had suspected otherwise, I am sure that she would have been sick with worry. You did the right thing concealing the truth for so long; it was very courageous. When I can finally bring myself to remove your possessions from your room, I would like to keep some of the pictures I found of you in your lieutenant’s uniform. I am going to show my friends what my cousin looked like and tell them he was a great friend of mine and a very brave soldier. I am so very proud of you and am going to miss you terribly. I must finish this letter now because I have to send it to Major Burns at the base in Coronado, California. Your mother told me to send it to him and he would make sure that it stayed with you. The Major said that he would place this letter in your uniform breast pocket, above your heart and beneath your medals. I know it will be with you forever. Your cousin, Michael |