Author of ‘Letter Heard Round the World’ Is Saluted : Welcoming: A Camarillo soldier whose note home tugged at the nation’s emotions receives a surprise greeting.

It was just a quick letter scrawled on notebook paper on a cold night at a U.S. Army base in Germany. Pfc. Alex Porter wanted to tell his parents that he loved them, something he never could say before.

He had already broken the news of his deployment to them earlier over the phone--he was leaving on New Year’s Eve for Saudi Arabia in the wake of the crisis in the Middle East. But, with a lump in his throat, there was more the 22-year-old from Camarillo wanted to say.

After all his buddies had gone to bed for the night, Porter picked up his ball-point pen and sat down at his desk. The words began to flow.

“Because of you I have lived the best 22 years a man could want, and because of the soldiers before me, I have lived those years freely. I hope to live 22 more. But if I don’t, don’t be sad, be proud. . . . Be strong for the parents who can’t.”

In the weeks to come, after the letter was made public, the hastily scribbled sheets of notebook paper became known as the “letter heard round the world.”

First aired on a Southern California radio talk show, the letter put words to the strong emotions of a nation at war. Within days, it was read aloud on television and radio shows and printed in scores of newspapers.

Friday evening, Porter returned from the Middle East to a reception at the airport that caught him by surprise. About 30 people, some of them strangers, gathered at Los Angeles International Airport to welcome him home. They were drawn to the airport by the words of the young soldier, simple but spoken from the heart.

“You mean I’m famous?” Porter asked his mother.

Dozens of onlookers were caught up in the scene. One bystander awaiting another flight spontaneously darted into the crowd to shake hands with Porter, who stands 6 feet, 5 inches. “You don’t know me from a hole in the wall,” she said. “But I heard your letter on the radio, and my son is your age. Thank you for your words.”

Clearly moved by the greeting, Porter said he wished his battalion buddies could have shared the moment. “When we got back to Germany, it was kind of anticlimactic,” he said, “especially for the guys with families in the U.S. We just got off the bus and walked into the barracks with a can of beer.”

Porter’s letter became public three hours before the war with Iraq began. Porter’s mother, Clo, impulsively phoned KABC Talk Radio after becoming frustrated with anti-war calls from the audience. Holding back tears, her voice cracked as she read the words to the Southern California audience.

“The response was spontaneous and overwhelming,” Bill Jenkins of KABC news said. The station was immediately inundated with requests for copies of the letter and to rebroadcast Clo Porter’s emotional call. Jenkins said KABC management also sent the letter to President Bush.

The Porter family has since complied with requests to read the letter on several radio and television shows across the nation. More than 100 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, have printed the letter, which has circulated around workplaces and schools.

Porter’s parents and 19-year-old sister Aemily appeared in a music video hosted by Cher for troops in the Gulf. The videotaped variety show featured Porter’s mother reading the letter during a photo montage of Alex and other soldiers. It was broadcast worldwide in February over Armed Forces Television and Radio and later on cable TV.

Porter, a member of the 1st Armored Division, was recently nominated by the Freedoms Foundation, a national patriotic group, for one of its annual essay awards, titled “Proud to Serve.” Porter and his family will be guests on KABC’s “AM Los Angeles” television program Tuesday morning.

Porter said the praise and national recognition are more than he ever imagined.

“I just wanted to comfort my parents,” Porter said Saturday. “But I never expected all this.”

Porter said his mother told him during a phone conversation after the war started that she had made his letter public.

“At first I thought she just showed it to all our relatives,” he said. “Then she told me that she read it over the radio. I was embarrassed at first.”

Porter’s first letter from a well-wisher arrived about a week later.

“It was from a woman in Long Beach,” Porter said. “She said, ‘I hope my son grows up to be just like you.’ ”

Porter said he sat on his tank and cried as he read the woman’s words.

“People got the impression that I was always this model son,” Porter said. “To be quite honest, I’ve never been the model son. I wanted to serve my country, but I also joined so I could learn discipline. I had a lot of growing up to do.”

Soon the letters were rolling in.

At first Porter tried to hide the correspondence from his compatriots. But when he received nearly 200 letters in one day, he decided to let his friends in on what was going on.

In all, he received nearly 1,000 letters and about 40 care packages, which he shared with the members of his division.

“It was unbelievable some of the things people said to me,” Porter said.

A family from Thousand Oaks wrote: “Your letter moved me . . . we are grateful for the sacrifices you have made over there fighting for us. I can imagine the joy and pride your parents must feel for having a son like you.”

Another woman offered to fix Porter up with her daughter upon his return. Several women sent love letters and pictures of themselves. And one man sent him a $100 bill.

Porter said he tried to answer as many letters as he could.

When the time came to move into Kuwait, Porter had to decide what to do with the growing pile of correspondence.

“My sergeant said I should burn them,” Porter said. “But I could not bring myself to do that.”

So Porter said he stuffed most of the letters in his duffel bag and carried them across the border. A friend took the rest to Germany for safe keeping.

“All I expected was a simple handshake,” he said. “But all this? I think it is certainly more than I deserve.”

Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.

TEXT OF LETTER

Before he departed for Saudi Arabia, Pfc. Alexander N. Porter wrote this letter to his parents, Michael and Clo, in Camarillo. It was first read on KABC radio.

Dear Mom & Dad:

I just wanted to write you a little note to help comfort you. I know it must be really hard for you guys. I’m not a parent, so I really don’t have any idea what you’re going through. I mean, on one hand, Aemily (his sister) is getting married, and on the other hand, I’m going off to a possible war. Either way you look at it, it would help me if you concentrated more on the brighter side of it all and I think it will help you as well.

I know it’s easier said than done. But you both are very strong people and I know you will deal with the situation well. Mom, it just hurt to hear you cry for me. I didn’t expect it. I feel good knowing that I have two parents that love me as much as I love them.

You both know and understand why I joined, and that makes it easier for me to go. Just know that I’m also going for the many Americans who have gone before me for 200 years. They paid for my freedom and yours with their blood. Their sacrifice has made it possible for me to choose my own course, and that means more to me than anything else. So, if I should fall in battle in an attempt to preserve those freedoms so the rest of our nation--so Aemily’s children--don’t have to live and grow in a terrorized America, it will be well worth the sacrifice. Because of you I have lived the best 22 years a man could want, and because of the soldiers before me, I have lived those years freely. I hope I live to see 22 more. But if I don’t, don’t be sad, be proud. Be proud that you had a son who, in a time when most Americans my age continue to take from society, gave.

I love you all very much. I will be okay no matter what. Tie a yellow ribbon for me and when I return we’ll take it down together. Be strong for all the parents who can’t.

Your son, Alex.