The St. Mary junior high students along with the fifth graders from Vincent Ferrer School in River Forest are sending letters to National Guard soldiers stationed in Iraq. Due to the efforts of fifth grade teacher,Annette Szczesny, of St. Vincent's, First Sergeant Michael Sangster supplied names of 150 soldiers to whom the children wrote in the hopes that they will write back. However, the main purpose of the letters is to let the soldiers know that they are in our thoughts and prayers on a daily basis.

St. Vincent Ferrer School

1515 N. Lathrop Avenue

River Forest, IL 60305

 

Dear First Sergeant Michael Sangster:

Enclosed, please find approximately one hundred fifty letters written by students for the soldiers under your command. Students at St. Vincent Ferrer School at the above address wrote approximately thirty-eight of the letters. Students from St. Mary's School in Riverside, another parochial school in a neighboring community, wrote the remainder.

It is our hope that these letters can be distributed to your soldiers. We appreciate their dedication to a dangerous, difficult cause. Also, as Christians, we understand how disheartening it must be to be away from family and friends during the holiday season.

We are hoping our letters will ease some of this detachment, while also expressing our gratitude for all of their efforts. We would welcome any correspondence a soldier might choose to return. We understand their free time is limited.

As a Catholic faith community, we hope the warfare will soon be ended and our troops can return home. We pray for this and your welfare on nearly a daily basis. May the coming year bring peace.

Sincerely,

Can you please pass this on to the St. Mary School Girl Scout Troop 968:

 

Thank you very much for the Christmas card, it really brightened up my

day. Unfortunately we did not have the day off and had to be on duty.

However, I was able to attend Church Services on Christmas Eve. The

Service was held inside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. There

were two choirs, one made up of soldiers and the other of Marines. The

name of the palace is the AL Faw Palace.

 

Once again, thank you and my God bless you all.

 

P.S. I attached a picture of me and an Australian soldier who is in my

unit. I hope you get it!

Ms. Annette L. Szczesny

Fifth Grade Teacher

St. Mary Sample Letters To Our Soldiers

Can you please pass this on to the St. Mary School Girl Scout Troop 968:

 

Thank you very much for the Christmas card, it really brightened up my

day. Unfortunately we did not have the day off and had to be on duty.

However, I was able to attend Church Services on Christmas Eve. The

Service was held inside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. There

were two choirs, one made up of soldiers and the other of Marines. The

name of the palace is the AL Faw Palace.

 

Once again, thank you and my God bless you all.

 

P.S. I attached a picture of me and an Australian soldier who is in my

unit. I hope you get it!