Messages ready for sentimental journey

Handmade valentines, decorated with smiley-face hearts, flowers, camoflaged tanks and exploding bombs, are piled on top of Jamie Crowell's desk at Eagle Ridge Christian School in Cape Girardeau.

On top of the stack is a simple red and white card bearing a heart inscribed with "I love you dad."

The author is 8-year-old Josh Cobb, a Scott City boy with spiky brown hair, square-framed glasses and a shy smile that appears when he talks about his cat, Muffin.

Josh loses his smile and doesn't say much when asked what life without his dad is like, but the letter he composed to send overseas explains.

"Hay daddy. I miss you. I love you and I wish you would not be in the war."

Josh Cobb is one of four Eagle Ridge students with a parent called to active duty overseas this year.

"He's there to fight for his country, I guess," Josh said, explaining his dad's assignment.

He and the 14 other 7- and 8-year-olds in Crowell's second-grade class have spent the past two weeks making posters and cards to send to Don Cobb, Scott City's police chief and a National Guard reservist stationed in Iraq.

The posters, cards and letter will be mailed this week. Crowell said having a classmate whose parent is in Iraq has opened the eyes of her other students.

"They don't understand that this is history happening, so I'm trying to make it a part of their lives," Crowell said. "They don't see the war, they aren't experiencing it, but knowing Josh is going through this brings it home to them."

The students included messages on the posters and also wrote letters, most of them thanking "Josh's dad" for serving in the military.

Eight-year-old Kaitlyn Herbst drew a large brown cross on her poster and added the words "you are brave."

"We wanted to make Josh's dad feel like he was home," Kaitlyn said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128