Community comes together to give last gift from fallen soldier

This country is full of people trying to make a point and dedicating their lives to their own glory. We see them everyday on TV. What we don't see is what most of us live with. We see neighbors helping each other but the news shows everything bad. We see strangers standing in the rain, holding a flag so they can honor the body of a fallen soldier coming home. The news reports on what is bad so often we end up thinking it isn't safe to go outside our comfort zone of home, work or church. Once in a while though a news crew shows up to bring us a story like this. If you want your heart warmed this Sunday morning, here it is.

After I watched it I felt sure this is not the "last gift" but the beginning of the gifts Captain Hays left behind for everyone.

Volunteers, Students And Donors Help Deliver Fallen Soldier, Capt. Bruce Hays's Last Gift To Wife Terry Hays
Posted: 05/05/2012

Thanks to the time and money of hundreds of volunteers and well-wishers, a fallen soldier's last wish -- a gift to his beloved wife -- has been fulfilled, 9News reports.

Several years ago, Bruce Hays purchased a battered 1959 Chevrolet Apache pickup truck for his wife, Terry, as an anniversary gift.

“I used to tell Bruce about how, when we were kids, we would go to the drive-in in my dad’s Chevy Apache," Terry told Fox News. "He remembered that. He knew how much it meant to me."

Though the truck was an old wreck when he bought it, Hays had hoped that he and his wife would be able to restore it together.

But before they got the chance, Hays -- a captain in the Wyoming Army National Guard -- was deployed to Afghanistan.

Less than a month later, in September 2008, Captain Hays was killed by a roadside bomb, leaving behind his wife and their family.

He also left behind a final, uncompleted gift for his family -- that old Chevy Apache.
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