Enjoy your Hot Dogs and Hamburgers...The True meaning of Memorial Day...Remember SGT. Amanda Pinson

Shabby Cottage Shops

Memorial Day Tribute ~ May 31, 2010

Dear Friends of Shabby Cottage Shops~

As you enjoy this Memorial Day with your family and dear friends celebrating your freedom, eating hot dogs and hamburgers, please take time to reflect on those "Fallen Angels" who have given their lives, so you can be free! It's a time to remember and thank those who did die for us, but also their families, who supported their daughters and sons decisions to help keep us free.

I have been thinking about the true meaning of Memorial Day! It's just not about having a "Memorial Sale" or spending time at a cookout, it's about what this day stands for and how fortunate we are to have young soliders like SGT. Amanda Pinson.

I was on facebook the other day and this is where I met Chris Andrews, the mother of this very brave young lady who gave her life, so we could be free. Please take a minute and read her mother's "words from the heart" and watch this video from You Tube. It bring tears to your eyes and just makes you want to thank this wonderful woman and mother, who supported her daughter, SGT. Amanda Pinson.

SGT. Amanda Pinson, Rest in Peace!

"My daughter, Sgt. Amanda Pinson was KIA in Tikrit, Iraq on March 16, 2006. Amanda was always' know for her smile, hugs and saying "I Love You". She was a beautiful person inside and out. In High School She started her own group, HELP- Hancock Environmental Leadership Program. She enlisted all of her friends and they planted trees at the park, went to senior centers to talk and play games with them, she absolutely adored older people, at Easter they made huge baskets and took them to the residents. The group also planted and maintained flowers and plants to an entrance of Jefferson Barracks Park. The Park is adjoined to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, where she is laid to rest. As a child I would take her and her brother Bryan, to the cemetery to see the deer, there were so many there and they loved seeing them. Now, when we go and place live flowers, we say that the deer will be visiting Amanda tonight. She truly would love that.

Amanda enlisted in the Army 1 year after graduation, she went to Community College and felt as though, it wasn't enough. In the Army she could make a difference and get a good education to go on to bigger things. She enlisted while we were at war and believe me, I tried everything to change her mind. I held out until the very end trying to get her to change her mind and before she signed the final papers, she called me and made me tell her it was the right thing to do and needed my blessing. Of course, she got it, she had a way of making things happen.

Amanda was much respected by all those she worked with in Iraq. I was told that she worked long and hard. She became an expert at her job in a very short time
Many of the things she accomplished while in Iraq were that of an intelligence nature and that is why they say that a "Cryptologist" serves in silence. I was told by her superiors that she was a light in a dark place and that she did everything she could to keep morale up. Even her superiors had grown used to the "I love you's" that was just her personality!

Army Sgt. Amanda Pinson, 21, of Lemay, MO assigned to the 101st Military Intelligence Detachment, 501st Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, KY.; was killed March 16th, 2006 when a mortar round detonated in Tikrit, Iraq. Pinson was a 98C Signals Intelligence Analyst and the first female Signal Intelligence Analyst to ever be killed in combat. The United States Army will be naming their new Cryptology Center, "Pinson Hall", in her honor.

Upon her death, my daughter, Sgt. Amanda Pinson was awarded a Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal and a Purple Heart".

We, at Shabby Cottage Shops, would like to ask you make a donation, no matter how large or small in memory of SGT. Amanda Pinson. They have a scholarship fund at her old high school where they give out a $1000 each year and is renewable for four years. It's called the "Amanda Pinson Memorial Scholarship". If you would like to make a donation in Amanda's memory, please send it to: Hancock Alumni Association, Amanda Pinson Memorial Scholarship, ATTN: Sue Weber, 2191 Lemay Ferry Road, St. Louis, MO 63125. You can email Amanda's mother, Chris Andrews, here with any questions or tell her thank you for her sacrifice too! You can also make a donation in Amanda's memory to the "Faces of Fallen Heros Foundation" on facebook by purchasing a T-Shirt using Paypal or visiting Faces of Freedom Fighters Foundation where they have established a fund for the Faces of Freedom Fighters Foundation - First State Soldiers Monument to honor all Veterans of Desert Storm, Kuwaiit, Iraq and Afghanistan freedom fighters in their fight against Global Terrorism.

Shabby Cottage Shops and our members will be making a donation to the "Amanda Pinson Memorial Scholarship" fund. We want to honor this brave young lady's memory who had a "Star~Spangled Heart" and hope you will join us, because No Fallen Solider should ever be forgotten!

May Old Glory Always Wave!

Sincerely,
Debra
Shabby Cottage Shops

	Amanda ~ A Girl with a STAR~SPANGLED HEART!

	SGT. Amanda Pinson Read about this wonderful brave young solider who believed in freedom and gave her life to keep us all free. Thank you Amanda, may you rest in peace and your memory live on in the hearts of all of those lives you have so graciously given yours for!