New Yorkers send world’s largest digital Valentine to troops (OK TISSUE TIME)

ARNEWS ^ | Feb 9, 2006

[SandRat]

Kelly Wilson (left), Lynelle Johnson and Genna Griffith send their regards to troops at the "Love Our Troops" pavallion Feb. 7 on Times Square.
Sgt. 1st Class Eric Reinhardt

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New Yorkers send world’s largest digital Valentine to troops

February 9, 2006

NEW YORK CITY (Army News Service, Feb. 9, 2006) – Operation Love Our Troops, billed as a “Guinness Book of World Records” attempt to create the largest digital Valentine for America’s troops, took center stage Feb. 7 in Times Square.

The campaign has already received more than 10,000 messages from around the world since it was launched Jan. 4. It’s a joint effort between Soldiers’ Angels, a nonprofit military support group, and Library of Life.org, a “digital scrapbooking” Web site whose pages include numerous tributes to fallen service members.

Organizers said they hoped their presence in Times Square would give a significant boost to the number of signatures by Feb. 14.

“This will be the largest digital Valentine’s card ever sent to the troops,” said Amanda Hale, vice president of communications for Library of Life.org. “They already have over 13,000 signatures and expect to eventually have 20-25,000 in total when the card will be sent.”

In addition to grabbing the attention of passersby, the campaign was featured on the CBS Early Show, ABC’s Good Morning America and the NBC Today Show.

Operation Love Our Troops set up camp on Military Island, home to the Armed Forces Recruiting Station and site of the iconic Life magazine photograph of a sailor planting a movie-star kiss on a nurse on the day World War II ended.

Volunteers from Soldiers’ Angels and Library of Life were on hand to help people add their messages of support to the troops.

“I have a step dad in the Air National Guard who’s deployed, so this means a lot to me,” said Michelle New, a Soldiers’ Angels volunteer from Cookstown, N.J.

Among those sending their messages of support was New York-based actor Hecter Ubarry, who will appear in the upcoming Bruce Willis feature “16 Blocks” in March.

“My nephew’s in the Navy Reserve and he’s deployed to Iraq, and my godson is in the Navy and he’s also headed to the gulf,” said Ubarry. “I worry about them. I hope the whole thing over there is resolved soon. I don’t want to see any more of our troops killed.”

Angela Spivey, an office worker in Midtown Manhattan, took some time during her lunch break to sign the Valentine.

“I just wanted to say hello and remind the troops that people are thinking of them,” Spivey said. “I think it’s sweet that they’re doing this for the troops.”

(Editor’s Note: Sgt. 1st Class Eric Reinhardt and Caroline Bernabei of Army Public Affairs, New York submitted this report.)

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[SandRat]

Just in case

[nancetx]

I'm glad this is being done...thanks for posting this.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[Cobra64]

Little Melissa comes home from first grade and tells her father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day. "Since Valentine's Day is for a Christian saint and we're Jewish,"

She asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?

Melissa's father thinks a bit, then says "No, I don't think God would get mad.

Who do you want to give a valentine to?"

"Osama Bin Laden," she says.

"Why Osama Bin Laden," her father asks in shock.

"Well," she says, "I thought that if a little American Jewish girl could have enough love to give Osama a valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit. And if other kids saw what I did and sent valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot. And then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn't hate anyone anymore."

Her father's heart swells and he looks at his daughter with newfound pride.

"Melissa, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard."

"I know," Melissa says, "and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines could blow his ass away."

[JudgemAll]

OK, are they just sending that or will they take one of our troops out for real?

Valentine can be such a cop out.

[SandRat]

We'll have to see what they do.