Soap cast firmly in GI’s camp

Hollywood was on the mind of one Camp Pendleton Marine who is fighting in Iraq. And now Sgt. Tanner Morath is on the minds of actors on one of TV’s longest-running daytime series. “We entertain. You protect,” wrote actress Nancy Lee Grahn. “Thank you.” Grahn is one of more than 20 cast members of ABC’s “General Hospital” who inscribed a photograph to Morath after learning that the Marine missed watching the show. Morath’s letters to his wife, Tiffany, were published in a story in The Times last month.

In one letter, Morath wrote: “Hello darling, how are you? Me, I could be better. I could be home playing with the kids, holding you as we watch ‘General Hospital.’ Instead, I’m here and you are there.... “

Morath’s letters were a poignant reminder of the emotional toll of war, said actor John Ingle, who orchestrated the drive to get cast members’ autographs.

On learning about the cast’s gift to her and her husband, Tiffany Morath cried: “I just love ‘General Hospital.’ ”

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Nora Zamichow