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Gold Star Mom Honors Son's Final Wish

Gold Star Mom Honors Son's Final Wish for Random Acts of Kindness on Mother's Day

"Pass on the kindness, the love, the precious gift of human life to each other so that when your children come into contact with a great conflict that we are now faced with here in Iraq, that they are people of humanity, of pure motives, of compassion."
Marc Alan Lee's last letter.

Phoenix, AZ-As Mother's Day approaches, Gold Star Mom Debbie Lee is redirecting the torrent of emotions that have surrounded her since the day she lost her son, Marc Alan Lee, the first Navy Seal killed in Iraq. Debbie is reaching out to support other mothers dealing with the unimaginable grief of losing their children. In Marc's final letter home, he wrote of his wish for Americans to support each other with random acts of kindness. With this idea in mind, Debbie began to implement Marc's dream.

Marc was the first Navy Seal to lose his life in Operation Iraqi Freedom. On August 2, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq, he single-handedly held off enemy fighters as his team rescued a wounded soldier from a rooftop. During the two-hour battle, Marc fired 100 rounds of ammunition before he was killed.

In his final letter home, Marc wrote, When was the last time you paid for a random stranger's cup of coffee, meal or maybe even a tank of gas?...Think to yourself and wonder what it would feel like when the bill for the meal came and you were told it was already paid for. More random acts of kindness like this would change our country and our reputation as a country.

Since her son's death, Debbie Lee has toured the country in support of the men and women serving overseas. She has recently established America's Mighty Warriors, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to random acts of kindness for military personnel and their families.

Her first official act of kindness raised money that she included in a condolence card to the family of another fallen soldier. She then took a wife (who was battling breast cancer), daughter and granddaughter of a deployed soldier to Easter dinner. Debbie Lee heard of a marine unit in Camp Lejune that were scheduled to deploy without essential EOD power lock tools. The Unit is currently set to deploy any day, and thanks to Americas Mighty Warriors, will now be traveling overseas with the tools.

On Mother's Day, Debbie will be taking other Gold Star Moms to the Arizona Biltmore hotel for lunch, followed by a limo ride to a mall where she has organized an event based on the hit show Amazing Race. Clues will lead the moms to retail stores who have donated gifts that will pamper these women who have lost so much. Each Gold Star Mother will also recieve makeovers. Debbie hopes to be able to hold events like this in cities across the country next year and already has plans for Father's Day in the works.

Debbie Lee met with President Bush and also appeared onstage at the 2007 Country Music Awards, where Tim McGraw performed his new song "If You're Reading This," which honors those in the U.S. military who gave their lives in service to this nation. She has also traveled to traveled to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay to personally thank troops serving overseas.