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WWII veteran meets woman who sent him a letter over a decade ago

The New York Daily News - 9/27/2021

Back in 2009, a 9-year-old girl named Dashauna Priest sent Frank Grasberger, a World War II veteran, a letter as part of her third-grade class project. For 12 years, Grasberger kept the letter — finally he was able to meet Priest recently.

“It meant so much to me and touched my heart so much,” Grasberger said on “Good Morning America.” “Keeping it with me made me feel like I was with her, protecting her.”

On top of the letter dated April 15, 2009, Priest drew a helmet with flowers on top of it next to an American flag.

The letter reads, “Dear World War II veteran, thank you for saving us from Hitler. If it wasn’t for you we would never have freedom. You made freedom for us. You sacrificed your life. I’m so happy you made sacrifices. Your friend, Dashauna Priest.”

“I felt like how could such a young girl understand what war was and how could she be so kind writing to someone she didn’t even know,” Grasberger continued.

After desperate attempts to find Priest in the days after receiving her letter, Grasberger was finally able to track the young woman down, thanks to Jill Pawloski, an employee at the senior residence where Grasberger now lives.

“I reached out and sent her a private message explaining the situation,” Pawloski said. “I then asked her if she’d be interested in coming to our community to surprise Frank and without hesitation she said yes. I was thrilled and so full of joy that I could do this for Frank. He has such a huge heart and I knew this would fill his heart up.”

Priest — who received the message on Instagram — said that the message went straight to her requests inbox, a folder she never usually opens.

“It’s so ironic because two weeks before I had opened up my memory box and went through it and I actually picked up [Grasberger’s] letter and read it,” Priest recalled. “So when she had messaged me, I had opened it around 12 at night and I actually cried because it was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy I just read the letter.’”

Only July 23 of this year, the pair finally met, but the meeting was set to be a surprise for Grasberger.

“We told him that someone was coming in to interview him about his story,” Pawloski said. “We were all in tears watching [them] meet for the first time. It was beautiful and heartwarming and showed what a little act of kindness can do for two strangers.”

“Oh God, I was in shock like it couldn’t be the girl,” Grasberger said. “I never thought I’d find her let alone see or meet her. It was amazing. I went through a box of Kleenex.”

Priest was joyful after the meeting.

“It was amazing. He’s a very amazing person. He has a great personality. I was really thrilled to meet him. He was just full of life,” she said.

Priest arrived at Grasberger’s residence donning her National Guard uniform as she ended up enlisting herself.

“No one had known I was in the military so when I showed up in my uniform it sparked something in everyone to start crying and it made me cry,” Priest said.

“I’m so proud of her,” Grasberger said. “She’s like a third daughter to me. She has become such a wonderful nice girl. I hope her son knows one day what a difference she made in my life.”

©2021 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.