Probably all of you have seen this famous photo of a GI hugging Omaha Beach for cover on June 6th, 1944. For more than sixty years he remained unidentified. His name is Huston S. Riley, who was a PFC with the First Infantry Division, who came ashore with the first wave on Fox Green Beach that morning.

He now lives on Mercer Island..a suburb of Seattle Washington. Ever since this story broke in 2007 I have been meaning to write him a letter to thank him and the other men he served with for what they did for our country and for the people of Europe. Since he lives here in Washington state it was not difficult to find his mailing address, so after I went through the mental process of "should I or shouldn't I" try to contact him I decided a short letter would probably not be invading his privacy. I also squirreled up the courage to ask him for a signed copy of that famous photograph, and just 4 days later (today) I received a happy surprise in my mailbox, which I am sharing with you now 🙂