Home » Archives » "Manhattanville College shows support for U.S. troops"

Manhattanville College shows support for U.S. troops

Jun-20-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Link to Full Article
THE JOURNAL NEWS

"Hey, it's Stephen, the guy you wrote. I'm on guard and writing in the dark with a flashlight."

— Army Pfc. Stephen Castellano

About 40 percent of the soldiers who receive packages and letters from stateside folks in the My Soldier campaign don't write back.

Stephen Castellano, a private first class in the Army, did.

"I'm 20 years old. Some of my favorite hobbies are boxing ... reading, writing, poetry," he wrote from Iraq to Stephany Valencia, 16, of Rye High School. "I have such a diverse group of friends. I have friends who are preps, who are in band, some who like rap ..."

That unfinished handwritten letter was the last the Long Beach, Calif., man wrote, said the cousin who sent the letter on to Valencia, saying he was killed in Mosul on Jan. 28.

"She told me I shouldn't be disappointed, to get another soldier and I should continue supporting the troops," said Valencia.

That was to be the first letter from Castellano to Valencia, who, with some 70 or so colleagues, joined a club at the high school to help in the Manhattanville College effort to reach U.S. soldiers overseas.

News of his death was shocking and depressing, Valencia said, but she is seeking another soldier to write to and to send lip balm, sunblock, beef jerky, soap, socks, pens and other little comforts, much of it donated by Rye residents and business people.

"I want them to know we care," she said. [...]


Advertisements