Young boy teaches Captain from 932nd Airlift Wing about life, honor, country

EDITORIAL: The St. Louis Arch is one of the greatest tourist attractions this side of the Mississippi. However, this is where it all happened. Where my soul touched the ground and my heart opened. It was here...at the St. Louis Arch, that I found my purpose. It began with our group exiting the big blue Air Force tour bus during a recent Junior Officer Leadership Development course. Everyone made their way down the concrete path toward the big and magnificent Arch. For all the folks that attended JOLDs from other states, this was a site to behold, but for me it started out to be just another day at the St. Louis Arch. I made my way to the entrance and walked down the well-maintained ramp into the south side of the museum. Myself and a lieutenant from Massachusetts, stood there waiting for our site-seeing group to catch up. As we stood there, the cutest, most adorable little boy came up to us with his little brother and grandfather. He couldn’t have been any older than four or five and his little brother was probably a year behind him. He and his brother wore matching red shirts with shorts. His big brown eyes matched his hair color. He smiled joyfully and said, “Excoooz me, Excoooz me, I would like to say thank you for serving our country.” As a mother, I thought how adorable and respectful. The lieutenant and I both smiled and said, “Thank you!” But within a second’s notice…you know how unpredictable children can be, this precious little boy said, “Did you hear about my Daddy?” My heart sunk. I could no longer breath. “It is all I could think to say. I felt small and insignificant. I felt like I should be thanking him for his sacrifice.” It was like watching a scary movie where you know what was about to happen but you can’t stop it. I turned to that little boy, looked into his eyes and said, “No, what happened to him?” With all the excitement of rehashing an amazing adventure that little boy sai