EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Dec. 23, 2005.
Arnie C. Nelson says he received his Christmas present a few days early. On Thursday, he received a visit from Army Staff Sgt. Chris Haars, a Northfield soldier he's been exchanging correspondence with while he was in Kuwait. Knowing Nelson's fondness for collecting stamps, Haars brought home to Nelson a booklet of Iraqi stamps and coins ... a heartfelt Christmas present for his weekly letter he received from Nelson all this time. "It's all I need for Christmas," Nelson said. "That visit was enough." Haars isn't the only soldier Nelson has written to. In fact in the last year, he's written to about 10 soldiers, one each day until they come home and then Nelson finds a new soldier for his rotation. Nelson obviously doesn't have to write to "his boys" or "his girls," as he refers to the soldiers he corresponds with, but he says it's his small way of thanking them for being willing to serve their country. It also may serve as a way for Nelson to fulfill a service to his country he was never able to complete. As a young man, Nelson was poised to be shipped out to the war in Vietnam but his father died of a heart attack. Nelson was the only boy and had to stay home to take care of the family farm. So he never served ... except for now that he's become one of the military's most important, but least known, morale boosters. "Nowadays, a lot of people say (the soldiers) get e-mail and that's enough," Nelson said. "I can't afford all that fancy stuff because of my medical bills. So I'm letting the Pony Express do its job." Setting aside the fact that he feels it's his duty to write the soldiers, the writing also serves its purpose for Nelson. Eight years ago, he suffered a massive stroke and had to retire from what was then known as Sheldahl, now known as Multek. He's healed considerably since then, but the stroke has left him handicapped and he's unable to drive himself anywhere. So, that leaves a lot of time for him to fill during his day. So he writes: He writes to soldiers, to missionaries he knows, to relatives ... to a host of people. "I'm handicapped and this is something that I can do; I'm stuck within these walls (of his home in the "metropolis of Waterford," as Nelson calls it)," he said. "I just can't go and get in my car; I can't just get in my car and go." He says the practice of writing to "pen pals," as he calls them, goes back a lesson he learned long ago in second grade when his teacher had the class write to other youngsters who lived on an American Indian reservation in Arizona. He still in fact has one of the letters he received from an Indian boy. Nelson said he started writing to soldiers about a year ago when he learned of a soldier serving overseas who had attended his church. Soon after he was writing to soldiers in Iraq that he had mentored as young boys in the scouts, such as Haars. And then he started writing to soldiers who just were Northfield natives. In time it grew to where he was writing to six soldiers per week, the same one on the same day each week. One of Arnie's "boys" upon returning told him that he looked forward to Mondays because he knew after he finished breakfast there'd be a letter from Arnie waiting at his station's post office. Nelson says that he tries to keep his letters light in tone; he wants to provide a distraction for homesick soldiers, not upset them. "I never try to make them feel bad like, Sorry you missed Thanksgiving,'" Nelson said. "I keep it on the lighter: We have tulips growing here and you should smell them.'" Nelson said he also likes to "kid" the soldiers, asking them if they think they'll remember what pizza tastes like when they get home. In return, the soldiers often write back and tell Nelson about their duties and their day-to-day lives in Iraq, or Kuwait as in Haars' case. Nelson hopes that others hearing his story will be inspired to correspond with the troops overseas, too. "If you have a relative or somebody from your church (in the service), write them," he said. "Most people don't know you can write a letter for 37 cents to go over there. Write them about something that happens in church, or in your neighborhood. Let the soldiers have some mail." Even though his soldiers are starting to come home, don't expect Nelson to quit writing any time soon. He just seeks out new recipients. "I love doing it; I do it for the love of doing it," he said. "They're willing to dodge the bullets to defend our country; I ought to be willing to write a letter." On Thursday, Nelson may have received a Christmas present when Haars visited, but Nelson is giving something to "his boys and girls" every week they won't soon forget. -- Devlyn Brooks is the managing editor of the Northfield news.
Commentaires