Tokens From the Home Front

It's Christmas Eve, and people in the Washington area are busy with their tinsel and toys, sugarplums and fruitcake, prayers and candlelit services. Far away are the Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Far away, but not far from thought. Many people extended their hearts across the ocean this holiday season.

When students at Hollywood Elementary School in St. Mary's County made holiday cards for Marines in Iraq last month, they didn't expect any response from 6,000 miles away, much less the one they got.

A Marine, a St. Mary's native, called their principal. He was returning to the United States in December, he said, and he wanted to thank the children in person.

Last week, the youngsters were eyeball to eyeball with Sgt. Kevin Silver, listening to him tell how much their drawings of snowmen and messages of "We love you!" had meant to the 2,000 Marines in his unit.

Silver, who just came off a six-month tour in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Kuwait, brought his own children -- ages 10, 7 and 4 -- from their North Carolina home. He stood in his dress blues and tried to explain a far-off war to some of the country's youngest citizens.

"Do you shoot people and bomb them and stuff?" one wide-eyed boy asked.

"My job is actually to handle the money," Silver responded carefully, "but sometimes we do have to shoot people to protect ourselves and all the people back at home."

Dozens of children rushed up to Silver after he finished speaking, fingering the shiny gold buttons on his uniform and marveling at his perfectly polished patent leather shoes. Many of them hugged him and said they, too, have a family member in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"You guys help us get through the times that are tough," Silver said.

-- Megan Greenwell