SOLDIER WILL SAY `THANKS' TO PEN PALS

PERRYVILLE -- It all started with a letter, sent by Perryville school children, addressed "to any soldier" serving in the gulf war.

That soldier, Spec. James Logan of Manassas, Va., is back home now, traveling through the southern and central states during the two weeks before he reports for duty, visiting school children who wrote to him during the war.

His next stop is St. Vincent's Junior High School in Perryville.

"We really feel close to him. We would pray for him every day in religion class," said Linda Layton, who teaches fifth and sixth grade English at the school.

Six of her students were pen pals with Logan, 24, who will visit the school Monday.

Layton explained that after one of the students received a letter from Logan, others started to write to him. He faithfully answered every letter, she said.

"They were long letters, eight to 10 pages," she said. "And he would personalize them. He wouldn't write the same thing to each one."

Logan, who worked in food service during the war, is a member of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Layton said Logan has already visited schools in South Carolina and Illinois. But she said he developed a special bond with her students.

"For Christmas, he sent a present for each of his pen pals," she said. "He gave them each a Desert Storm T-shirt, candy and a picture of him along with a letter."

Aside from the presents, the real surprise came one day in March when Logan called the school from his post in Saudi Arabia, Layton said.

"He talked to each one of his pen pals," she said. "He told them what day he was leaving and said that after he got home he would come to visit us."

Logan has no relatives in Perryville, nor had he ever heard of the town.

"He just said he was going to get out his map and figure out the best way to get here," she said.

Layton said the students in each of her four classes are excited about Logan's visit. In fact, each letter Logan wrote was read aloud in all of her classes.

"Most of the students would ask him the same things, like if he had seen scorpions or spiders, or a SCUD missile," she said. "He and the other soldiers who wrote would always tell them how important it is to try your hardest in school."

Logan always signed his letters the same way, she said.

"They always read: `Keep up the good grades and the positive mind. Peace. Your friend for life, James.'"

Students have made a sign welcoming Logan that will be hung in the school's front yard.

Layton said he will stay at the school most of the day, lunch with students and teachers, and later have dinner with some of the students' parents. He will spend the night at one of the parent's homes.