With the Living Legends Angels...

The Soldiers’ Angels Living Legends team has the powerful and challenging task of ministering to military families who have lost a loved one on the battlefield.  Members of this special team send sympathy cards/letters to grieving families to convey the compassion, sorrow and respect of all Angels to the families of each fallen hero.  The team also extends the offer of several kinds of memorial and comfort items to the families.

This quilt, created by Living Legends Angel Sharon Wakefield to honor a fallen Marine
includes themes and patterns reflecting his Lakota heritage (click to enlarge).

 

Angel Fay, one of the over 300 volunteers who write personal letters to the family of each fallen hero, describes her experience as a Living Legends Angel.  She says she is full of memories of each and every fallen hero and family she has encountered, and is so honored to be part of a team of amazing Angels that remembers them and supports their families…

In 2005, shortly after Cathy Woodruff asked for volunteers to join a new team called Living Legends who would write cards with messages of condolence and sympathy to families of our fallen heroes, seven people joined the new team.  I was one of them.  We began in May of that year.  We would get a terse message from Cathy listing the name and age of our hero and the address of the family, surviving family members, and the name and address of the Soldiers’ Angel who had adopted the soldier (if any).  There were no pictures submitted with the information we received, and most of us sent a card with a written, personal expression of sincere sympathy. 

In a short time, Cathy added the planting of a tree or bush to the Living Legend team duties.  Sometimes she would ask some of her team members to call families that were severely traumatized and on occasion I would call suffering family members.  The early messages about KIA service members had come with so little information, but I would try to imagine Private John Doe of Alabama dying at age 19 and the ripple effect it had on his family.  This wondering and the close contact with family members led me to ask Cathy if we could have pictures of our fallen heroes, and it made a great impact on the writers. 

Probably the most touching and powerful addition to our team was that of our quilter Sharon Wakefield.  Sharon has been our only quilter all these years.  She single-handedly has sewn hundreds of quilts, each one different and specially-designed to honor each fallen hero.  She has integrated trucks, helicopters, bears, planes, eagles, kneeling soldiers, Sunbonnet Sues, Suspender Sams, and beautiful blocks into her works of art.  All of her quilts are posted on our team's memorial website by Angel Terri Rager.

Today, the information about our lost men and women sent to a Living Legends Angel is compete with their lifetime accomplishments, as well as service records.  Unlike other American wars where personal records of fallen heroes didn't surface for decades, no one will ever have to write a book about the uncovered information of the fallen heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; Living Legends has written it all and posted mini biographies and quilts (where applicable) of every hero.

Through her quilting, our unbelievable Sharon Wakefield has gifted many families with a tribute to their lost family member.  In cases where the family members of our lost soldier live within driving distance of her home, Sharon has often hand-delivered her gift to the grieving family!  She is our unsung heroine!

Being a part of the Living Legends team has changed my life.  Serving on this team has been a profound and moving honor. 

Fay reports that her years as a Living Legends email have included a number of deeply personal and meaningful connections with grieving military families, an experience that is not uncommon among Living Legends Angels.  One family sent to Fay a copy of their soldier’s “farewell letter” that began, “If you receive this letter, I have passed away…”  In 2006 when she suffered a serious illness, one of the families Fay had written to sent her a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Since then, that family has sent her a Christmas card every year.  “This sort of thing is not an anomaly,” she says.  Some families even join the team because they want to pass the comfort they have received to other heartbroken families.

The Living Legends Angels obviously have a powerful impact on the grieving families they attempt to comfort.  It’s an invaluable role, and one they fill with grace and strength.  To learn more about this special group of Angels, visit the Living Legends team page.