Route 4, Box 456

Dothan, Alabama

February 27, 1955

Hello Gerre:

I wanted to give you something very special for this very special occasion of yours.  I guess darling, I should be ashamed to admit, that these wings are all I have in the world that really has a value and a significance for me.

I've never been very good.  I've never been very brave.  But when they gave me these, they said I was brave.  So, maybe you'll think so too.  It's not very much for a person to show for living 34 years.

I kept them all these years to give to someday, to the one I loved more that all others...so...they are yours now.

They've been to many places.  To the nightmare that was Sicily - to the hell of Salerno - and the torture of Anzio.  And always, I would take them out of my pocket, and look at them. And know that some day, you would wear them.

I didn't know you by name then.  But I knew you were waiting somewhere, and that someday, I would be there too.  And it's funny, maybe, in a way, but you were there...and the only dream I ever dared to dream came true then...and though it lasted only a little while...how beautiful it has been.

The nick in the wings is where a piece of flying shrapnel hit them the night we landed in Normandy - in France.  But for them, I wouldn't ever have met you.  We always wore them over our heart.

I've had so many lucky breaks, darling.  And meeting you, knowing you, has been the very best of them all.  Please keep these, and know always, that they were always meant for you.

And though they aren't worth very much; only a few pennies at most...they are all I have...and they were for a very special occasion once too...for one Christmas...so long ago now.

I love you darling...I always have...and I always will.

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