Thursday, March 29, 2007 Older Editions

Meeting their hero

By April Guilmet

It was a welcome worthy of a celebrity. But for the fourth-graders in Martha Keleher's class at West Elementary School, US Air Force staff Sgt. Mark Goujon is nothing less than their hero.

Goujon, who is now stationed in Florida, was "adopted" by Keleher's class during his six-month deployment in Iraq. Earlier this month while visiting family in New England, he dropped in to meet his pint-sized pen pals for the first time, face to face.

"It was like going to a press conference," Goujon laughed.

Decked out in his uniform, the 27-year-old Methuen native and Greater Lawrence Technical School graduate told of his months in the desert and even signed autographs for each of the 24 students.

Keleher, who once worked with Goujon's mother, contacted him last fall, asking if her class could "adopt" him. "I was so excited when we got our first email from him," she said. Soon, postcards from Iraq began arriving as well.

"I got three envelopes filled with your artwork and letters," Goujon wrote in a postcard dated Oct. 12. "Thanks for working so hard on your assignments so you have time to write me."

Through postcards and e-mails, Goujon brought the children to a hot and sandy place where camel spiders grow as big as one's hand. He told them of times when he had to go find "the bad people" in Iraqi homes, only to meet benevolent individuals who shared bread with him. And he spoke of the loneliness of being apart from his family during the holiday season.

"They did something creative for almost every holiday," Goujon said. "At Christmas, they even sent fake snow!" The children's efforts were especially meaningful, Goujon said, as it was his first deployment to Iraq.

As the months rolled on, the mail exchange continued. Last fall, they sent him leaf-rubbing cards with haiku poems inside. The students sent handmade holiday cards, a West Elementary shirt and Magic-8 Balls.

At first, Goujon's postcards were sent weekly, though at times, he was unable to write or send e-mail. "I tried my best to write them... then they moved me to a different location where I couldn't write as often," Goujon said.

"I'm kind of like a firefighter in a way," Goujon wrote in an e-mail sent late last fall. "I just sit around waiting for a call and when it comes in, my work begins."

Soon, the students learned that their "adopted" soldier wasn't all that different from them.

Much like them, he rooted for the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl; and mourned their loss along with him. "Of course, my favorite team is the New England Patriots..." wrote Goujon.

And much like them, he enjoyed spending time with his pet dogs. "I don't have any kids yet, so I love them like they're my furry children," he wrote.

During a visit to Keleher's class last week, the "Sgt. Goujon bulletin board" is the first thing one notices when walking into the classroom. An American flag the soldier once used on a mission hangs beside the bulletin board, which contains photographs and postcards from Iraq. Tokens of Goujon's visit, such as a bag of Lay's potato chips with the label written in Arabic, are tacked to it as well. On a nearby table sits a scrapbook of letters between soldier and students.

Towards the end of Goujon's visit, the young sergeant pressed a small coin into each student's palm. One side of the coin bore the New England Patriots logo, while another bore the logo for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In military tradition, the coin is presented when someone in a higher military rank appreciates something someone has done for them.

"I shook all their hands and thanked them, as part of a military tradition," said Goujon, who's currently in the process of writing individual, American flag-embossed, thank-you cards to each of the students.

In return, the students gave Goujon an inflatable globe.

"So he knows wherever he goes, that he means the world to us," Keleher said.

The students in Keleher's class are Noah Appleby, Alex Baptiste, Natalie Benson, Reid Bryant, Elizabeth Carmichael, Vishnu Chavva, Sam Clark, Abigail Cohen, Emily Connors, Annie Goodwin, Jack Harrington, Paige Hartnett, Joseph Kim, Katie Kohut, Nolan LeBlanc, Jonathan Marotta, Connor McCullough, Melanie Murphy, Kurt Nightingale, Lily Puccia, Aidan Scanlon, Vivian Steinbaugh, Michael Stuart and Connie Xiong.