The Army Son

Author Unknown

The Creightons were very proud of their son, Frank. When he went to college,
naturally they missed him; but he wrote and they looked forward to his letters
and saw him on weekends. Then Frank was drafted into the army.

After he had been in the army about five months, he received his call
to go to Vietnam. Of course, the parents' anxiety for his first letter
was greater than ever before. And every week they heard from him and
were thankful for his well-being. Then one week went by without a letter
~  two weeks ~ and finally three. At the end of the third week a telegram
came, saying, "We regret to inform you that you son has been missing for three
weeks and is presumed to have been killed in action while fighting for his country."

The parents were shocked and grieved. They tried to accept the situation
and go on living, but it was tragically lonesome without Frank.

About three weeks later, however, the phone rang. When Mrs. Creighton answered
it, a voice on the other end said, "Mother, it's Frank. they found me, and
I'm going to be all right. I'm in the United States and I'm coming home soon."

Mrs. Creighton was overjoyed, with tears running down her cheeks she
sobbed, "Oh, that's wonderful! That's just wonderful, Frank."

There was silence for a moment, and then Frank said, "Mother I want to
ask you something that is important to me. While I've been here, I've
met a lot of wonderful people and I've really become close friends
with some. There is one fellow I would like to bring home with me to
meet you and Dad. And I would like to know if it would be all right
if he could stay and live with us, because he has no place to go."

His mother assured him it would be all right.

Then Frank said, "You see, he wasn't as lucky as some; he was injured
in battle. He was hit by a blast and his face is all disfigured. He
lost his leg, and his right hand is missing. So you see, he feels
uneasy about how others will accept him."

Frank's mother stopped to think a minute. She began to wonder how
things would work out, and what people in town would think of
someone like that. She said, "Sure Frank, you bring him home
~ for a visit ~ that is. We would love to meet him and have him
stay for a while; but about him staying with us permanently,
well, we'll have to think about that." There was silence for
a minute, and then Frank said, "Okay, Mother," and hung up.

A week went by without any word from Frank, and then a telegram arrived
"We regret to inform you that your son has taken his life.
We would like you to come and identify the body."

Their wonderful son was gone. The horror stricken parents could only
ask themselves, "Why had he done this?" When they walked into the room
to identify the body of their son, they found a young man with a
disfigured face, one leg missing, and his right hand gone.

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