MOTHER OF FALLEN AREA SOLDIER WINS ESSAY CONTEST
Monday, March 17th, 2008 -- 8:44 AM
A Fairchild woman has won a national essay contest and plans to donate her $5,000 prize to the Highground.20-year-old Charles Kaufman, a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, was killed by a car bomb in Iraq back in June of 2005.
His mom, Celeste Kaufman wrote a 250 word essay about their last Christmas together and heard this week that she had won.
"The essay contest was through Land O' Frost lunchmeats and it was entitled, 'Holiday Miracle Essay Contest', Kaufman says, "The grand prize was a trip or $5,000."
Kaufman wrote about Charles' last trip home before his death, where an unfortunate accident turned into a golden opportunity for the family to spend time together before his death.
"He fell out of a tree stand and broke a couple ribs and lost his spleen," Kaufman recalls, "In stead of joining his unit, (the military) gave him a leave."
"We were blessed with one more Christmas that we otherwise wouldn't have had and three more precious pictures of our son and daughter together. Unfortunately, six months later, Charles was killed in Baghdad, Iraq," Kaufman says.
She plans to donate her winnings to the Highground Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville.
Kaufman is a member of a committee developing a Persian Gulf Tribute, that will honor the veterans of Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan. We'll have more on this story next week.
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