Inspirational

I am very excited to be a new member of MWSA and to share Comes A Soldier's Whisper, a collection of wartime letters with reflection and hope for the future.

Although these letters were written some seventy years ago between 1943-1945, they resonate the same sentiments of our soldiers today. A soldier's thoughts turn to family, the future and his past and is shown throughout my father's (David Clinton Tharp) personal letters sent home. War changes a soldier. It changes their family too...

When I contemplate individuals in my life who have the right to be bitter, my Maternal Aunt is the first person who immediately comes to mind. In the span of her lifetime, she has lost two husbands and her only son. Her first husband passed away when she was nine months pregnant with their fourth child. He succumbed to pneumonia while in the hospital, post gallbladder surgery. In the years that followed, my Aunt struggled to raise her four children without the benefit of their father.

(Originally published in Military Times, 12/30/91

         Sometimes we see the U.S. military on a global scale – like a monolith of might, not to be reckoned with. But if you stick around long enough on any give day at any given post or base, you never know who you might run into.

         One day when I was working as a volunteer at the thrift shop at England AFB, La, a woman and her little girl came in to consign some items. As I priced her things, we got to talking.