Dead Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Well goes Dry

It has been said that good things should be done so that your left hand knows not what your right hand is doing; i.e., anonymously. I will tell you a true story of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, everything remains without names, however. The donor in this story has always insisted on remaining anonymous. This is a true story and if you read it, you are among a small group of people who have heard of it, for it is only known to families of dead soldiers and they have been asked to maintain the benefactor's anonymity. There is a Canadian man who early on wished to show his support for the Canadian and American troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq by putting his money where his heart was: he donated $2,500 Canadian to each family of a Canadian soldier killed in action and $2,000 US to each family of an American soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. A volume comprising a number of the soldiers' families and their response to this philanthropy was published this year in a limited edition of 50. In July, I sat and read almost every page of this book and looked at each page where families had sent in thank you letters, family pictures, snap shots of their son or daughter from happier times. Almost all of them affirmed how proud the soldier had been to serve his/her country. It is impossible to read without tears coming to one's eyes. Just before my reading of the book, the program had come to an end, having been in place since 2001. It had become just too expensive to continue !