Dear Patriotic American,
"I immediately reached down - up, really, since I was upside down - for my legs. I could tell they were gone."
An American Hero, 25-year-old Lt Dan, recalls what happened to him in August, when an IED blew up under him, in Kandahar province, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
I know this dangerous area well. In what turned out to be the bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan, my FOX News team and I were embedded there in September during our 16th trip to report on the fight against radical Islamic terror.
Once again, I witnessed American Heroes in action. Like Lt Dan, those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq today are in harm's way and have forfeited the comforts of home and the warmth and affection of family for the rest of us.
Fortunately, Lt Dan survived and is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he is being fitted with prosthetic legs.
In the last three months, more than 1,000 Americans have been wounded in battle in Afghanistan. They and their families have made extraordinary sacrifices on our behalf.
It has been my great blessing to have spent most of my life in the company of real American heroes, all our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines - like the ones you see pictured here - who leave their families and risk their lives to keep America safe, strong and free.
For these heroes and their families, I come to you again with an urgent and humble request.
Please open your heart, as you have in the past, with an urgently-needed gift to our Freedom Alliance Support Our Troops program by GOING HERE.
This is a year-round effort to honor and support:
Our combat-wounded troops recuperating at military hospitals all around the country,
Children and families of troops deployed overseas and;
Active duty troops serving overseas, thousands of miles from their families and friends.
Your generous contribution NOW will make a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2010 for our courageous troops in several ways.
FIRST, the Freedom Alliance Support Our Troops program will continue supporting our wounded and recuperating troops. You may be surprised to know that there are more than 12,000 servicemen and women in Warrior Transition Units on military bases all around the country. These American heroes are recovering from their injuries and many will return to active duty; others will transition to civilian life.
With your generous contribution today, by GOING HERE, Freedom Alliance can put the "MERRY" in Christmas for our injured heroes. Several of the ways we do this are by:
Hosting Troop Appreciation Events, including dinners and Christmas parties for combat-wounded troops and their families stationed at military bases and Wounded Warrior Transition Units around the country to show them how truly grateful our country is for their sacrifice.
Freedom Alliance will also deliver Christmas gifts to military families who need our help at this special time of year. Last year, through the generosity of Freedom Alliance supporters, like you, we gave over 5,000 Christmas gift bags to our wounded servicemembers and their families.
We also provide financial aid grants and gift cards to servicemen and women in need. Last year, Freedom Alliance supporters made it possible for us to provide over $225,000 in financial aid grants to our brave defenders of freedom in military hospitals around the United States.
SECOND, the Freedom Alliance "Gifts from Home" project ships care packages to our troops serving overseas. During the Christmas season, we will ship hundreds of "Gifts from Home" boxes containing thousands of requested and needed items, including prepaid international calling cards, candy, toiletries, games, non-perishable food, Germ-X hand sanitizer, books, magazines, DVDs, CDs and much more!
THIRD, Freedom Alliance provides support for military families through our "Adopt-A-Military Family" project, which brings Holiday joy to families in need, with Christmas gifts they might not otherwise afford - all wrapped and delivered to their homes before Christmas.
We are turning to you because you have been such a faithful and generous Freedom Alliance supporter in the past. Will you please join with me and Freedom Alliance again to pay tribute to our front-line warriors and their families by GOING HERE to make your most generous tax-deductible contribution today?
The support and financial assistance you make possible - now and throughout the New Year - will show our brave heroes how proud and grateful we are that they fought for our freedom.
On this Christmas Day, I wish you and your family a blessed and peaceful holiday. Please keep our Brave Defenders of Freedom in your thoughts and prayers. God Bless you and your family and thank you for your generous and faithful support.
Semper Fidelis,
LtCol Oliver North, USMC (Ret.)
Founder and Honorary Chairman
P.S. After Christmas is over, our brave men and women in uniform will still need our help. Please make your most generous tax-deductible contribution to Freedom Alliance HERE so we can start 2010 as we finished 2009 - doing all we can to honor our American servicemembers. God Bless.
