THE WALL OF FACES

NHHS Classmates and Fellow Veteran.

Although we never met personally, I want to thank you Ernest James Brown, for your courageous and valiant service, faithful contribution, and most holy sacrifice, given to this great country of ours!

Your Spirit is alive--and strong, therefore, you shall never be forgotten, nor has your death been in vain!

Again, thank you Sailor, for a job well done!

FAIR WINDS, AND ETERNAL PEACE MY FRIEND

Please post remembrance posted 10/13/2001 that I entered to edit the previous remembrance. I am only rescanning a picture due to the previous one being so unclear.

When God created Ernie, he through away the mold. There will never be another man as kind,tender hearted,down to earth, sincere, loving, and just a great all american guy who loved baseball, working on his car, racing and spending time with his wife and friends. I will never meet anyone else like him and have I am not searching. No one will ever fill that void. The only peace I have in my heart today is the love of God. He is the one who helped me through this tragedy. I was only 19 years old when Ernie was killed and it devastated my whole life. He was my first and only experience of the purest kind of love. I felt my life died when I buried him. Though this was a horrific experience for me to go through, I feel blessed because God allowed me the wonderful experience of truly loving Ernie. My heart goes out to the thousands of people who have lost loved ones of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. It is a pain that no one can explain and each person goes through in their own way. If I could advise them I would say, don't rush the process. No one can tell you how to go through grief, so go at your own pace and call on God, He will see us all through everything. I will always treasure the memories of Ernie and the laughter and love we had. We lived on pork and beans and canned biscuits while he was in engineering school in the Great Lakes, but we were as happy as "two peas in a pot." In my 1968 high school annual he wrote to me, "Anita, I knew the first time we dated you were the one for me and if one of us should ever leave the other, I know one of us will die." Oddly and sadly enough that came true. I pray for all who lost loved ones in this "tragic worthless war." I thank God for placing Ernie in my life and shall hold him close forever. I love you Ernie and I know I'll see you when it is my time to go home. God Bless us all!

In honor and remembrance of my first and only love and husband who will live within my heart forever.