SANTA CLARITA - The students in Judith Hayward's fifth-grade class had never met the Marine who visited them Thursday after returning from Iraq, but now he's like a friend. Master Sgt. Mark Coates was the class's pen pal for months as the kids flooded him with letters and care packages.
Coates reciprocated with a video. "When he sent the video, I felt we knew him," student Himani Sharma said. "We were excited to see him in person!
" Coates stopped by Valencia Valley Elementary School to thank his new buddies face to face and get better acquainted. The students politely probed the Marine's feelings after he briefed them on his perilous stint in the hot spots - Fallujah, Haditha, Ramadi - and showed off military paraphernalia. "Was it scary to be in Iraq?
" Alicia Spadaro asked. It sure was, he told her quietly, especially the uncertainty about what would happen next. "I know there are bad things about the war.
What are the good things?" Himani asked. A pensive Coates spoke of restoring normalcy to empty, bomb-laden schools, ousting a dictatorship and fostering an atmosphere that allows for public protests.
Among other things, his unit supported an air command and protected a
"But what the kids are doing is supporting the people who are in it. As long as they give the support to the people who are willing to sacrifice themselves, that's all that's important." As students passed around the leaden bulletproof plates that girded Coates' flak jacket, Amanda Sladek said, "I can't imagine them holding that every day.
" Since October, the students had been sending missives and would hear back via a weekly update newsletter, which consisted of an e-mail routed from Coates' mom to friends and family. His mom, Cathy Chamberlain, was the glue holding the soldier and class together. Ages ago, she had lost touch with her grade-school pal - Hayward - but a chance search on Classmates.
com reunited the pair, and the project soon followed. Hayward, a teacher for 43 years, has taught in the Newhall School District for 19 years. Never before has the school welcomed a visitor fresh from war.
"I'm thrilled my class had a chance to participate in this activity to write to him and meet him," Hayward said. "Starting in fifth grade, children kind of wake up. They start to see there's more to the world than just what surrounds their little area.
" The students crooned the Marine Corps Hymn as they marched to greet Coates and escort him to their classroom. He had shared their letters with his mom, who beamed from the back of the room. "I'm so proud Judi encouraged her class to adopt him," Chamberlain said later.
She traveled from Torrance for the occasion, and Coates, who returned home in February, arrived from his Marine Corps Miramar station post. He lives with his wife and two of their kids in a small town outside Temecula. Coates, 43, was deployed to Iraq in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
He drew laughs midway through the otherwise serious visit when his cell phone ring tone blared AC/DC's "Thunderstruck." Coates brought the kids souvenir pins, and some handed him gifts. Logan Vandergrift fashioned paper clips into a star.
"It's part of the American flag," the boy said. "It seems like it would symbolize America." The visit made history come alive for the students, Principal Tammi Rainville said.
"It's not just hearing the perspective of parents or what they see on the news," she said. "It's getting the experience firsthand, whatever your beliefs are." After nearly 26 years of military service, Coates is ready for retirement but won't stray far if he gets his wish.
He hopes to work with Marines at Camp Pendleton.
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