The handwritten letter, adorned with stickers, was signed, “Your buddy, Ashley.”
At first, Army Staff Sgt. Logan Corse wasn’t sure the letter was really for him. Maybe a child left it behind.
But looking closer at the well wishes, kind words and silly jokes, Corse realized the piece of paper couldn’t be for anyone else. It was addressed to wounded soldiers at the Shepherd Center.
There was a whole stack of them, one for every wounded vet undergoing treatment.
Thirteen-year-old Ashley Crantas of Marietta was the pen pal. An AJC Holiday Hero, she’s been writing the buddy letters every week for 18 months.
Whenever she has free time, she sits down for about an hour or two and pens a new batch. She often adorns the letters with glitter and stickers, and likes to include jokes borrowed from a joke book for kids.
What happens to race car drivers when eat too much? They get indy-gestion.
Corse bursts out laughing every time.
“I love those silly jokes,” said Corse. “I always have.”
In 2003, Corse was standing 10 feet from a roadside bomb in Baghdad when it exploded. He survived the concussive blast, but suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, now considered by many as the “signature injury” of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. For Corse, it went undiagnosed for several years.
Back in Atlanta, the 45-year-old went to Shepherd for treatment. Physical therapy helped him get better mobility in his arms and legs. He learned coping mechanisms to help him remember things.
At times, he felt hopeful. Other times, he felt dejected. Would the pain ever go away? Would he be able to walk without a major limp? Would he ever feel he’s got his mind back?
On Friday mornings, any heaviness he was feeling would give way to light-heartedness. He knew he would laugh. His buddy letter arrived.
Ashley talked about learning Spanish at Simpson Middle School in Cobb County, about seeing all of the costumed-runners at the AJC Peachtree Road Race. She told him to stay positive, to “hang in there.” And included the jokes, of course.
How can you recognize the turkey in a band? He’s the one with the drum sticks. (She drew a picture of turkey in a band alongside the joke.)
Some holidays, Ashley drops off cupcakes. For Easter, she distributed fruit-and-chocolate filled baskets. And for Halloween, she delivered 10 pumpkins.
“I don’t really deal with holidays,” said Corse. “But I took home that pumpkin with a happy face on it and put it on my counter.”
In four months at Shepherd, Corse received 16 letters from Ashley.
Crantas’ older brother is in the Air Force. She said she admires the dedication of people in the military.
When she was 12, Ashley brainstormed ideas with her mom for showing appreciation, and she came up with the idea to write buddy letters.
“I’ve always been impressed by those who go above and beyond the norm to protect us and our country,” said Ashley, a soft-spoken eighth-grader with long brown hair and an easy smile.
She doesn’t just think men and women in the military are her heroes — she tells them that every week in a letter.
In the end, it was as much Ashley’s dedication as the letters themselves that penetrated Corse’s hurt and eased his pain.
“I was just like, wow, what persistence to do something so sweet,” he said. “Some people are going through a rough time dealing with injuries. When I first got here there was a woman shot in her head and she couldn’t use one of her arms. Another guy was in a helicopter crash and he was struggling with, ‘What I am going to do with the rest of my life?’
“There are people struggling with adjusting to civilian life and when you are injured you can feel alone. ... When you get a letter like this, it reminds you that there are people out there who really care, and that is really kind.”
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