First Person: Tommy's story
You may ask, what does Sgt. Thomas Vandling Jr have to do with me? Many years ago, at Christmas time, I stumbled on a website, Anysoldier.com that gives people like me a chance to support the troops in war zones. What started as a simple request from a son to his parents, that would allow him to support members of his unit who weren't getting mail, quickly grew. Currently, they are supporting over 95,000 service members with over 2,300 contacts.
Over time, some of the Anysoldier contacts have been killed in action, making them "lost contacts". Last spring, Gathering of the Guard was advertised on the site, with the intent to have a flag sponsored for each of the Anysoldier lost contacts. I choose to sponsor a flag, but since I didn't know any of the lost soldiers, allowed the site to choose one for me to sponsor. My intent was only to ensure that every one of those lost contacts had a flag. And they did.
I had forgotten about the event, until I received an email from Marty Horn, President of Any Soldier Inc, that while they wouldn't be able to attend the event, the flags would be sent back to him and he would then send them on to those of us who sponsored them. In the package would also be a gift for us from Rose at dogtagsforkids. It made it to me a few weeks later, and I can honestly say, I was in tears when I opened it. I don't think I knew how big the flag was, or what an impact the dog tag that Rose had included for us would have on me. Until that moment, this was all an abstract for me. In fact, when Marty first emailed me that the flag would be shipped to me, I had to ask him the name of the soldier I had sponsored. But at that moment, with the flag, and the dog tags that showed Tommy was only 26 when he was killed, that made the whole thing real.
That night, I did a quick google search for Tommy's name, not really thinking I'd find much, maybe the usual press releases for a fallen soldier. I didn't plan on finding April's piece. We hear about soldier's dying almost daily and I think a lot of us, including myself, forget that these are real people, kids for the most part, someone's son or daughter, mother or father, brother or sister, someone's friend. I'm thankful April was willing to share so much about her friend and how much she'll miss him.
Over the weekend, I put together a shadowbox with everything. I think it turned out rather well, even if my picture doesn't show it. But I think it belongs with someone who knew Tommy.
You may ask, what does Sgt. Thomas Vandling Jr have to do with me? Many years ago, at Christmas time, I stumbled on a website, Anysoldier.com that gives people like me a chance to support the troops in war zones. What started as a simple request from a son to his parents, that would allow him to support members of his unit who weren't getting mail, quickly grew. Currently, they are supporting over 95,000 service members with over 2,300 contacts.
Over time, some of the Anysoldier contacts have been killed in action, making them "lost contacts". Last spring, Gathering of the Guard was advertised on the site, with the intent to have a flag sponsored for each of the Anysoldier lost contacts. I choose to sponsor a flag, but since I didn't know any of the lost soldiers, allowed the site to choose one for me to sponsor. My intent was only to ensure that every one of those lost contacts had a flag. And they did.
I had forgotten about the event, until I received an email from Marty Horn, President of Any Soldier Inc, that while they wouldn't be able to attend the event, the flags would be sent back to him and he would then send them on to those of us who sponsored them. In the package would also be a gift for us from Rose at dogtagsforkids. It made it to me a few weeks later, and I can honestly say, I was in tears when I opened it. I don't think I knew how big the flag was, or what an impact the dog tag that Rose had included for us would have on me. Until that moment, this was all an abstract for me. In fact, when Marty first emailed me that the flag would be shipped to me, I had to ask him the name of the soldier I had sponsored. But at that moment, with the flag, and the dog tags that showed Tommy was only 26 when he was killed, that made the whole thing real.
That night, I did a quick google search for Tommy's name, not really thinking I'd find much, maybe the usual press releases for a fallen soldier. I didn't plan on finding April's piece. We hear about soldier's dying almost daily and I think a lot of us, including myself, forget that these are real people, kids for the most part, someone's son or daughter, mother or father, brother or sister, someone's friend. I'm thankful April was willing to share so much about her friend and how much she'll miss him.
Over the weekend, I put together a shadowbox with everything. I think it turned out rather well, even if my picture doesn't show it. But I think it belongs with someone who knew Tommy.
Thank you Sgt. Thomas Vandling Jr, and your family, for your service and sacrifice.
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