March 19, 2008
On Five Years of War…
The Musical:
The Time: May 1st 2003
The Place: USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego; Iraq
US Army Pfc. Jesse Givens died in Iraq in the service of his country on the first of May, 2003, in his 34th year. He wrote this letter to his wife Melissa, his five year-old son Dakota (nicknamed ‘Toad’) and his unborn child Carson (nicknamed ‘Bean’). He asked Melissa not to open the envelope unless he was killed. ‘Please, only read it if I don’t come home,’ he wrote. ‘Please put it away and hopefully you will never have to read it.’
Andrew Garland, baritone
Lee Hoiby, composer and pianist
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, Things That Make Me Cranky, War, War in Iraq by 
