One of my English textbooks is called The Best American Magazine Writing 2009. I just finished a reading assignment and have to share this essay. It is a very touching story of a fallen soldier's final trip home. Emotional, yes. Painful to hear at times, yes. But it's also life changing and will remind you of a soft side of humanity. It will probably stir feelings of respect, honor, and gratitude.
The essay won the 2009 award for Feature Writing. It is called "The Things That Carried Him: The True Story of a Soldier's Last Trip Home" and it was written by Chris Jones for the Esquire magazine. (Not the most wholesome magazine, I know, I googled it.)
I found a .pdf file doing a google search. Unfortunately, because it's copyrighted, I cannot load it up here. So, Google the article by name and author and you should find a .pdf file. Enjoy the reading! :-)
