Dan Stockman's asking for feedback. He writes: Memorial Day pieces have an uncanny ability to slide over the line into schmaltz and sentimentality and I was desperately afraid that would happen here. It'd be nice to know whether I hit it or not.
Here's his story: FORT WAYNE – There is a model fighter jet, a television-VCR combo with a model of an M1-A1 tank on top, books with titles like "The Snake," "Animals" and "Lizards in Captivity," a statue of Saint Francis and two tae kwon do trophies.
Other books include Shakespeare's "Hamlet," "The Oxford Dictionary of Civil War Quotations" and "Star Wars: Episode I."
There are his desk and computer, his closet and his dressers full of clothes.
These are the things Pfc. Richard Langenbrunner, 19, left behind when he went to war. These are the things that remained when he came home less than four months after deployment – came home not with his unit, but with an honor guard, a rifle salute, a folded flag and the eternal thanks of a grateful nation.
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