To the editor:

This weekend I was privileged to witness a truly moving event at the airport in Kansas City. As I was waiting for a relative to arrive, on two separate instances soldiers returned home from Iraq to a slew of waiting family members. On both occasions, the families had numerous people waiting for the return of their loved one, and many of the family members held signs welcoming home the soldiers or conveying their feelings of love for the soldiers.

It wasn’t the family’s reaction to the soldiers arrival that I found moving, though. On both occasions, as the soldiers exited the hallway from the plane into the terminal, their families stood in unison and cheered, but both times, so did the rest of the terminal.

Strangers passing by and people waiting for other passengers at the airport all stood and applauded the soldiers. As I found myself applauding these strangers I thought of what a testament it is to our country that we have come so far since the days of hostile welcomes during the Vietnam War. It goes to show the rest of the international community how united we are, and regardless of whether you agree with the war, or whether you agree with our reasoning for war, or whether you agree with our current administration’s decisions, there is one thing that our country agrees on, and that is that our soldiers are true heroes, and each deserves a true hero’s welcome.

Thomas Hammond,

Lawrence