A Dad’s Letter To His Fallen Son After Hearing Of Bin Laden’s Demise

The events of the past 2 days have been monumental for many Americans.

I thought I had heard or seen all the different types of reactions to Osama's death, but then I saw this letter on another station's website.

KYSS is one of our sister stations located in Missoula, Montana. It is there where you'll find Denny Bedard.

Mr. Bedard lost his son in the war in Iraq, and upon hearing of the death of Bin Laden, Bedard felt compelled to write a letter to his son. The text of the letter follows:

The minute I heard last night about the death of Bin Laden, I wanted to rush right to the cemetery and give you the news.

You know, sit and visit, just like I have done every week since October of 2005, when I lost you—my only child, the Marine—in Iraq. I got a call today from Kim Briggeman of the Missoulian. He wanted to localize the story for his article in tomorrow’s paper. He asked what I was doing when I heard. Had to be honest and tell him we were watching the Judds mini-series. Hey, it’s country, okay? Luckily, Jennifer was on Facebook, friends were talking about it and away we went to the news coverage.

Kim asked me what I thought your reaction would be. Here’s what I hope it would be, son.

I hope that you feel like you were part of the team and share in the success of the mission.

You were in Iraq, not Afghanistan. Not your choice, but you recognized that the difference in terms of an evil threat to our nation was little more than an imaginary line called a border, and chose to enlist in the military during a very turbulent and dangerous time. And I hope you feel appreciated for that.

And I hope you feel that, even though this doesn’t rid the world of such poison, you were an important part of the process to get the first length in the chain to break.

And finally I hope you feel this country’s love and appreciation, not just today buy everyday. I am so proud of you.

With love,

Dad