Rudy's Letter

This is a letter my mom came across while going through Rudy's (stepfather's) stuff. It adds fuel to the fire to get the celebrity-signed-book copy for Ebay, donating the proceeds to a Vet benefit fund. (Thus far, btw, I've heard from the following celebs, all of who want to sign: Brett Butler, Jimmy Pardo, John Caponera, and Rocky LaPorte.) It also provides some insight into the simple everday things Vets struggle to get that the rest of us often take for granted. I will be heading to Yellowstone with my mom roughly from Oct 10-20 and will be focused on the book signing project 100% upon my return. Of course, I'll keep you posted as I hear from more celebs.

Actually, I think I mentioned this letter previously but now I have an actual copy and can quote it. As I indicated previously, Rudy was a big Paul Harvey fan. He wrote this letter in '92, after which his heart greatly improved due to various medication and he was taken off the heart-transplant candidate list.

Dear Mr. Harvey:

For years I have read and heard about Kup's Purple Heart Veterans Cruise. Royko applauds it, as you do. I don't know anyone who doesn't think it's great, including me. Few veterans can benefit from it, however, and most get treatment of a far different sort.

I am an ex-marine with a bad heart trying to qualify for a heart transplant. My beef is that while recently a patient in the Hines Veterans Hospital I was shocked to learn that the pateients' library is unable to provide a daily newspaper. I was told the library had no budget for this. Imagine a lonely, hospitalized vet looking for a job, a cheap used car, a sleeping room, cremation services or just some current reading material - and he cannot go to the library in a huge hospital like Hines and read a newspaper in the great city of Chicago.

Isn't there something three heavy weights like you of WGN, Kup of the Sun Times, and Royko of the Tribune could do? Even a day old paper would improve on the current situation and give some help to our guys.

Where in hell is all the recent Desert Storm spirit? How soon they forget...

A faithful listener,

Rudy Kara

Personally, I find the situation appalling and ironic. There is a lot of rhetoric reminding us that our soldiers fight to protect our freedoms, especially emphasizing our freedom of speech. Yet, these same soldiers can't even benefit from their own work and dedication--they can't read the current freedom of speech expressed in the latest newspaper while they're laid up for defending that freedom of speech. Rudy was right; something is very screwy about that.