Priest’s Confessions: A special visitor came to our offices last week. | Columnists | Summerville Journal Scene

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Priest’s Confessions: A special visitor came to our offices last week.

Published Tuesday, October 21, 2008 2:55 PM

By Ellen Priest
Summerville Journal Scene ®

PFC Bob Dunleavy, with whom I’ve been corresponding for the past eight months, came by shortly after his return from Iraq.

Bob sent me an email from Iraq where he was stationed to see if The Journal Scene and the good people of Summerville would partner with him to provide school supplies and toys to Iraqi children.

And in true local fashion, the goodhearted citizens of Summerville came through.

Goodhearted is only one of the things that come to mind upon meeting Bob.

He is articulate, sweet, caring, and unassuming.

He is smart, having completed two years of college at USC in Columbia before deciding to enlist.

He has plans for finishing his business degree under the GI Bill once he gets out of the Army in 2011.

And he wants to make this world a better place.

We wanted to do something special for Bob. When we found out from a friend that he is a huge Gamecock fan who wanted to attend a game while home and had been unable to attain tickets, I contacted President Harris Pastides.

Dr. Pastides and the USC family donated two tickets to Bob to attend the USC-LSU game.

Those were given to Bob during his visit, with Dr. Pastides’ thanks for his service to our country.

Bob’s response?

“Wow! You just made my week/month!” he wrote in an email when informed of the tickets on the 50-yard line.

My heart goes out to Bill and Jeanne Dunleavy who must once again bid Bob goodbye in three weeks and see him off to Iraq.

Bob is the type of man that any parent would be proud to call their son. He is the type of man that any town would be proud to have live there.

And he is the type of man that any country would be proud to have represent it.

To us he is representative of all the men and women who are serving their country in this horrific war.

Every week during our Summerville Rotary meeting, we talk about service above self. Bob is a perfect example of someone who lives this motto every day.

Bob proudly tells of how his dad served as a Marine in the Vietnam War.

The difference between the war that Bob serves in and the Vietnam War that his dad served in is that now, whether or not people believe in the war, they do believe in our men and women who are serving.

They love them and worry about them and pray for them, and they want them home safe and sound.

Bob tells of women in Iraq that have been recruited to become suicide bombers.

He tells us that they can frisk the men, but not the women, and because the women wear loose fitting garments, when they walk past, the only thing a soldier can do is say a prayer that she is not hiding a bomb under the fabric.

He tells of IEDs and exhausting patrols.

But then he also tells of Iraqi families who welcome the soldiers who sometimes stay in their homes because it keeps their families safer.

He tells of children who want to learn but don’t have the basic tools of pencil and paper to do so.

He tells of “playgrounds” that exist in schoolyards that are filled not with slides and swings, but with dirt and debris and children who want badly to play but have no balls or toys to play with.

We are blessed in this country. We are blessed with safety and freedom. Our soldiers are what keep us safe and free.

Bob’s parents will be seeing him off in three weeks with a prayer. They will pray for his safe return every day until they see him in Summerville again.

And we here at the Journal Scene will be praying alongside them for the safe return of Bob and all our troops.

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