A Soldier’s Words : Author of ‘Letter Heard ‘Round the World’ Returns From Persian Gulf

It was just a quick letter scrawled on notebook paper on a cold night at a U.S. Army base in Germany. Pvt. 1st Class 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. But 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 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 on television and radio shows and printed in scores of newspapers.

On Friday evening, Porter returned from the Middle East to a welcome that caught him by surprise. About 30 people, some of them strangers, gathered at Los Angeles International Airport, drawn by the words of the young soldier.

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

The letter first became public three hours before the war with Iraq began. Porter’s mother, Clo, impulsively phoned KABC 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,” said Bill Jenkins of KABC news. 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 latter 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 Times, have printed the letter, which was often circulated around workplaces and schools.

Porter, a member of the 1st Armored Division, has been nominated by the Freedoms Foundation, a national patriotic group, for its annual essay award, entitled “Proud to Serve.” Porter and his family will be guests on KABC-TV’s “A.M. Los Angeles” television program Tuesday morning.

He said the praise and the national recognition that he and the letter have received is more than he ever imagined.

“I just wanted to comfort my parents,” Porter said, relaxing Saturday afternoon at his home. “But I never expected all this.”

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

“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. 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. 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 up 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 correspondent Robyn Loewenthal contributed to this story.