PDA

View Full Version : Keeping in touch with Company B



thedrifter
10-05-06, 12:11 AM
Keeping in touch with Company B
Story filed by NewsCenter16 Reporter
Sarah Platt

Lakeville, IN - Some local students have adopted the Marines of Company B as their pen pals.

For the past few weeks, students at LaVille Junior, Senior High wrote to the Marines, serving in Iraq.

One of their marines, Corporal Aaron Seal was killed in a sniper attack earlier this week.

Over the past few weeks, the students have sent around 600 letters to the Marines.

They want to let the marines know there are people here at home thinking of them.

Some of those letters were meant for corporal Aaron Seal, who lost his life on Sunday.

You could call it “Operation: Letters From Home."

It's the mission these LaVille Junior and High School students have taken on.

Kareena Palmer said, “I just asked him how it was, I told him I was proud of him for putting his life out on the line and doing it every day.”

Alex Ronan said, “There's actually a lot of people in the Marines at our school that graduate and went on to the Marines.”

It’s been a sad dose of reality for students like Alex and Kareena, both lost their pen pal, Corporal Aaron Seal.

Now the school is hoping to get the letters to Seal's family.

“These kids have adopted the marines and they want to support them and they want to just let them know that they care,” Arden Balmer said.

LaVille teacher Arden Balmer helped kick off the letter writing campaign. His son, private first class Lawrence Balmer, is also a Company B marine in Iraq, “Words cannot describe the loss, with my son being over there, it's hitting our family very hard also, hitting some kids.”

Although it's just a simple piece of paper, students say it's the message on it that counts.

Matt said, “I think it's important that they know that there are people over here that do want to know what they're doing and why they're doing stuff like that.”

Arden said, “This is an ongoing project and it's the kids that want to keep this going. I knew we had good kids, but I was wrong, we have great kids.”

Although they hope to get one, students say they don't mind if they don't get a return letter because they know the Marines are busy.

Ellie