Can You Find His Boot for Me?
A friend messaged me and asked me if I could find her late husband’s boot on Fort Hood. The Fisher House was holding its first Race to Remember. The race route was lined with a boot for every service member who has died or been killed since 2001. It was a powerful sight to see the line of boots that seemed to go on forever.
After the race, the boots were lined up in a display in front of the III Corps building on Fort Hood. To stand there and look at all those boots was powerful and emotional. I found the boot that had my friend’s husband’s picture on it. I took a picture of the boot, said a prayer, and posted the picture onto Facebook for her to see.
Within minutes, another friend sent me a message asking me if I could find her cousin’s boot. So, I went back to the display the next day and searched for her cousin’s boot. I found it, took a picture of it, said a prayer, and posted the picture for her. I would go back to the boot display many times. I was asked to search for the boots of fiancés, friends, husbands, sons, cousins, and battle buddies. The pictures that I took of these boots were posted on pages of friends all across the world.
Each time that I went back to look for a certain boot, I would stop and say a prayer for those that were lost and the loved ones that they left behind.
Some boots had special items that family or friends had left. Some had very powerful messages on the boot.
One day, I took my kids with me to see the boots. I showed them all the ones that I had taken pictures of and explained who they were. I showed them the ones that belonged to the shooting victims we lost here at Fort Hood. We talked about how these service members had said goodbye to their families just like their Daddy had said goodbye to them many times, but they didn’t get the happy homecomings that we have had. The families of those that the boots represented had sacrificed a lot.
It was emotional for all of us to be there. We sat down, talked about what these brave Americans had done for us, and said a prayer.
There were many comments on the pictures that I posted of the boots. One comment really resonated with me. It read, “Imagine if each of these service members was standing where their boot was and they were looking at you. Could you look back at them and tell them that you were honoring their sacrifice? Could you look back at them and tell them that they were not forgotten?”
The boot display was very powerful. Never forget.
