Fort Hood Hug Lady Hugged Back

'Hug Lady' gave 500,000 hugs to returning soldiers — now they're hugging her back
NBC Today
Alexandra Zaslow
November 20, 2015

Many soldiers will tell Laird exactly when they received her hug, and lots of them even bring the Psalm 91 card she gives out to each soldier before deployment. One man even came all the way from New York to give her a hug.

Elizabeth Laird has greeted every soldier that has passed through Fort Hood since 2003.

She started by shaking their hands, but one day a soldier went in for a hug. Then the next guy wanted one, too. And now, by her estimate, Laird given out over 500,000 hugs in the act of both seeing off and welcoming back soldiers.

The 83-year-old from Copperas Cove, Texas would like to see that number increase, but lately that hasn't been possible. On Nov. 3, Laird was admitted to the Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, Texas when the breast cancer she has been battling since 2005 put her in a weakened state (Laird refuses chemotherapy).
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