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Soldier gives Purple Heart
to girl who honored troops
Surprises 13-year-old winner of letter contest:
'It's important what these children do for us'


A soldier injured in Iraq gave his Purple Heart to a 13-year-old girl who won a contest for writing letters to U.S. troops.

"It's important what these children do for us in sending these letters," said Staff Sgt. Phillip Trackey, according to the Post-Standard of Syracuse. "The letters mean so much to us. So I thought this was a big way of giving something back to them."

The student at West Genesee Middle School in Syracuse, Fatima Faisal, was a regional winner in the Veteran's of Foreign Wars' Letters to the Front contest, the paper said.

Trackey, who was there yesterday with other soldiers from Fort Drum, pinned the medal on Faisal after holding it up for everyone to see.

"I'm touched. I'm speechless," Fatima said. "This is the sweetest thing ever."

Faisal's letter, chosen from more than 300 in the 12-18 category in the Central New York region, said "… I give you great respect because you had a choice to join the military and because of your bravery and courage you decided to join," the Post-Standard reported.

For winning the contest, Faisal received a T-shirt, certificate and $50 savings bond, but she values the Purple Heart most.

Said her mother, Nadia Faisal: "When he gave it to her, I was getting chills, I told her 'Oh my gosh, Fatima. You should treasure it forever.'"

Trackey said he suffered shoulder and head wounds when an improvised explosive device went off near him in Baghdad in January 2005.

I'm in a position in which I'm around a lot of soldiers, both veteran and active.  I never fail -- even to the point of awkwardness and potential embarrassment -- to tell every single one how grateful I am for my freedom, and what they've done to give it to me.  The WWII-era vets are the most visibly moved by this, but I've never met a single man or woman who hasn't humbly told me "thank you" or "It's an honor to serve".  This soldier who gave his Purple Heart to Fatima Faisal is purely American.

"A man there was, though some did count him mad . . . the more he cast away, the more he had." -- John Bunyan

Amen SSV, how true that is.

Even though I myself spent a lot of time in service I still thank others for their time. Personally I feel there is no situation that I myself would consider awkward or embarassing to do so, but thats me.

Yes this Soldier is truely American and those Soldiers and Sailors that I have known would have been inclined to do the same.

I wish to thank you for your efforts in recognizing the efforts of these brave men and women and what they have done for our freedoms.

Dozier Gets Purple Heart From Soldier

Kimberly Dozier, the CBS reporter wounded by a car bomb in Iraq, now has a Purple Heart at her bedside in a U.S. military hospital in Germany after a young American soldier gave her his medal, the network said.

Dozier, 39, was seriously injured in a blast Monday while covering a story on Memorial Day in Iraq. Her camera crew, Britons Paul Douglas and James Brolan, were killed in the attack, along with a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi translator.

Dozier, who was flown Tuesday to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, remained in critical but stable condition Friday, CBS said. Her breathing respirator has been removed, and she has been able to talk with family and visiting CBS colleagues, the network said in a statement.

She suffered head and lower body injuries in the blast, and her family told CBS she was going to need rods in her legs.

Doctors were performing "routine" procedures on Friday, CBS said.

On Thursday, CBS said an American soldier who had been awarded the Purple Heart medal for combat injuries made a special visit to the hospital to see Dozier.

"A young American soldier came up to Kimberly's brother Michael and told him that he had met Kimberly in Iraq two years ago after he had been wounded with shrapnel in his arm," CBS said without identifying the soldier. "The soldier had his Purple Heart with him, and he told Michael that he'd like Kimberly to have it because, he said, she's suffered as much as any soldier. That Purple Heart is now beside Kimberly's bed."

Dozier's family and boyfriend arrived Wednesday to be with her as she is treated in Germany.

"When I walked into the room and saw her, it really impacted what that was all about and how closely we came to maybe losing her," her mother, Dorothy, told CBS. "To hold her hand and have her little thumb wiggle so that she knew us, I'm just delighted with the improvement in the time we've been here."

Landstuhl has not given a timeline for Dozier's treatment, but patients injured in Iraq are commonly stabilized at Landstuhl, in southern Germany, for three to four days before being flown to the U.S. for further care.

That would mean she would likely be returning home sometime this weekend.