In his last letter from the Vietnam battlefield, Marine Lt. Paul Bush wrote that he was overjoyed by the students' Christmas cards and the uplifting thought behind them.
He also wrote that "one wicked man cannot start a war. It takes millions of thoughtless people who treat their fellow men with dislike and disrespect."
Bush, who responded to school children's letters during the late 1960s, died in combat just after that letter.
But a retired Pittsburgh-area teacher saved his letters from the front lines. The teacher brought them to state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and urged her to do something for today's troops as war with Iraq looms.
Thursday, Orie's office unveiled a new Web site that will enable students to write e-mails to troops overseas.
The hope is to buoy their spirits in an era when the military discourages mailed parcels because of anthrax scares and delivery backlogs.
The "Reach Out and Touch a Hero" program allows students to send e-mails to servicemen and women stationed around the world through a secure Web site.
"So many of them are not that much older than me," said Rachel Johnston, 18, a Deer Lakes High School senior who attended a kickoff ceremony for the Web site Thursday. "They're lonely. I think it's good to encourage them and thank them for the sacrifices they have made."
Students can narrow their correspondence to soldiers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard. There are also options to e-mail soldiers who hail from Pennsylvania. E-mails will be sorted by the Defense Department and distributed to troops, Orie said.
Students from 10 school districts, including Deer Lakes and Freeport Area, came to the kickoff ceremony.
Things got emotional when Freeport Area ninth-grader Bettina Penvose spoke about how hard it was to say good-bye to her father, Doug, who recently was called to active duty.
Fellow student Laura Corry, a senior, spoke about the Freeport Area Key Club's willingness to spread the word about the "hero" Web site with other service clubs.
The powerful voice of Anne Leonard, a Deer Lakes' ninth-grader, got everyone there singing the national anthem, said Freeport Area teacher Dave Panach.
Panach, an art teacher, served in Desert Storm with the 307th Military Police Co. of New Kensington.
In those days -- the early 1990s -- e-mail for troops wasn't available, but no matter what form a nice sentiment came in, it was much appreciated, Panach said.
"To receive mail is something you looked forward to," Panach said. "When you're in a foreign country, there's nothing to read in English."
A "rah-rah" e-mail from students might be just the thing for today's troops, he said, what with some anti-war demonstrations going on.
"They're over there in a life-and-death situation," Panach said. "You don't need to worry about your own people going against what you're doing."
The "hero" Web site is aimed at high school students, but anyone can use it.
It allows students to list their first and last names, hometowns, as well as their school district, although Orie's staff will only forward the students' first names and hometowns to the Department of Defense.
The school district and last name will be used only to get soldiers' responses back to the right student, she said.
Deer Lakes' Johnston should get plenty of those. She, along with three others from the high school, plan to get each of the four high school classes to adopt a platoon. That means they'll commit to writing a number of e-mails to troops daily.
Johnston was joined by Leonard, the singer, as well as 11th-grader Brennen Britton and 10th-grader Amanda Trocki.
"I'd like to send as many as I can," Johnston said.
