Page 107 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2020- Online Magazine

ARMY
AFgHANISTAN
excited to be that soldier who came home with
war stories. Since you can’t be here to do it, we AMARILLO
will be here to tell your family for you. They will year-old by myself. But
be taken care of.” Genaro made that possible, and I make sure that

After learning the details of Genaro’s death, I Sofia knows her father and the sacrifice he made.
felt compelled to ask Patty about forgiveness. We visit the cemetery on birthdays and holidays
She said, “I have really had to work through and sometimes on just random days. We have a
this. He and the others who died had built a wall in our home filled with pictures of Genaro.
relationship with the Afghan police they were Sofia even has a bear with a message from her
training. He defended them. I wish I could say Daddy so she can listen to his voice any time. I was
we lost him so others wouldn’t have to lose able to take a voice mail he left one time and had a
fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, recording made for the bear. She loves to hear his
wives, but that isn’t the case. Instead, I know voice, anything about him, and especially the ways
God has a plan for us, and I trust Him. I made she is like him. She will always know her daddy.”
myself a promise that my daughter would not Patty told me our conversation opened old
grow up to be a sad little girl who watched wounds, but she allowed those wounds to be
her mom suffer every day. I will never fully opened in order to share Genaro’s story, their
understand why this happened, but I know for story, our story – a story of unspeakable loss but
sure I am the woman I am because of what I’ve also one of forgiveness, choices and finding the strength to
been through. I am raising a beautiful, bright, sassy eight- live a life worthy of bravery and sacrifice.

Civil Air Patrol
AMARILLO Tigershark Composite Squadron
Wreaths Across America Wreaths Across America Day
Sponsoring National
December 19, 2020

Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach is carried out
by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at more than 1,600 additional
locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad.

On Saturday, December 19, 2020 at 12:00 PM, Amarillo Tigershark Composite Squadron Civil Air Patrol SWR TX 353
(TX0044P) will be helping Llano Cemetery to Remember and Honor our veterans by laying Remembrance Wreaths on
the graves of our country's fallen heroes. There are over 1600 veterans buried in Llano Cemetery at the Field of Valor,
and we strive to honor each one with a wreath this year. We need to raise more than $24,000 to accomplish this.

Please help us honor and remember as many fallen heroes as possible by sponsoring Remembrance Wreaths,
volunteering on Wreaths Day, or inviting your family and friends to attend with you.

Thank you so much for supporting the Amarillo Tigershark
Composite Squadron Civil Air Patrol SWR TX 353 (TX0044P)
and Wreaths Across America!

For more information, please contact 2nd LT Rita Valdez at
806-553-0865 or mail sponsorships for Wreaths to:
Rita Valdez
C/O Civil Air Patrol
10610 American Dr.
Amarillo, TX 79111

Please visit our website for wreath sponsorship at
wreathsacrossamerica.org/tx0044p

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