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Now i shamelessly knicked this from another site but well worth read.
Last week I was in West London attending a conference. .
While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people
behind me beginning to clap and cheer.
I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of
patriotism I have ever seen.
Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in their uniforms,
as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was
abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.
When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and
cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded
Briton who still loves this country and supports our troops and their
families. Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these
young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday
for us so we can go to school, work, and enjoy our home without fear or
reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our
service men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran
up to one of the male soldiers.
He knelt down and said 'Hi,' the little girl then asked him if he would
give something to her daddy for her.
The young soldier didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he
would try and what did she want to give to her daddy.
Suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the
biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was
Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Corporal and
had been in Afghanistan for the last 5 months.
As the mum was explaining how much her daughter, Courtney, missed her
father, the young soldier began to tear up.
When this temporarily single mum was done explaining her situation, all
of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second.
Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking
walkie-talkie.
They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.
After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over
to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and
he told me to give this to you.'
He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a
kiss on the cheek.
He finished by saying 'Your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you
more than anything and he is coming home very soon.'
The mum at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young
soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mum.
I was standing no more than 6 feet away as this entire event unfolded.
As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people
resumed their applause.
As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry
eyes, including my own.
That young soldier in one last act turned around and blew a kiss to
Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and
thank God for them and their sacrifices.
At the end of the day, it's good to be British.
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Sorry to be such a spoil sport:
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/daughter.asp
However, the sentiment is lovely and perhaps there is an original true story out there somewhere :)
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Might as well hit the delete button then ?
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