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Airmen donate flag to Collinsville Middle School pen pals

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Amber Kelly-Woodward
  • 375th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Today a message can be sent via e-mail, text message and even Facebook, causing people to sometimes forget what it feels like to receive a handwritten letter. 

Members of the 330th Transportation Battalion in Balad, Iraq, experienced the value of a letter when the Team 7D class from Collinsville Middle School in Collinsville, Ill. began pen-palling with them. 

Now back from deployment, 11 Airmen from the 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron joined students Friday morning to dedicate a flag to the school that was flown over the 330th Transportation Battalion headquarters in Iraq. 

"I came up with the idea of writing to the soldiers when I heard about another colleague of mine doing it and after I learned that most of students did not remember Sept. 11 or why our troops were in Iraq," said Andrew Frey, Team 7D teacher. "My mom's also a teacher and she had (deployed Senior Master Sgt. Danny Mathews') daughter in her class...which is how we connected. 

"They wrote the letters just to say thank you, but we didn't expect the Airmen to write back," Mr. Frey continued. "They did and it began a pen-pal relationship." 

The students and Airmen continued to write back and forth. The students asked questions about the military and the Airmen asked about what was happening back home. 

Sergeant Mathews, 375th LRS Deployments superintendent, thanked the students by saying, "I know it may have seemed like another homework assignment, but it reminded us why we were there and really boosted everyone's morale. This was especially helpful for the young folks who had never been overseas and away from their friends and family." 

During Christmastime, the class sent school T-shirts, and the battalion's commanding officer, Army Col. Ronald Ross, and Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin McKeller saw what the school was providing to the troops and decided to send a flag to show their appreciation. 

Veterans from the American Legion Post 356 raised the flag and four students who wrote an essay about what the flag meant to them presented the flag to the veterans and veterans' sons. After a couple of weeks, the flag will be put into a case along with a dedication. Currently, the school has a display case with pictures of the 330th Transportation Battalion. 

After the ceremony, students talked with the Airmen and asked lots of questions.
"Many of the children have never met anyone in the military, so they were amazed," said Mr. Frey. 

Sergeant Mathews added, "I can see that the children have learned something because they know about 9/11, the flag and what the country means to them." 

Mr. Frey has already made connections with another Airman from Scott who will soon be deploying, so that his next class can do the same thing.