CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The few good days during his tour of duty in Iraq were the ones where he got to give war-weary children gifts from his hometown, Staff Sgt. Courtney Moore said Friday.
Sgt. Moore recently completed a 10-month deployment, mostly in Basra in southern Iraq, with the 810th military police company.
He and his son, Alex, came to Santek Environmental Friday to thank corporate employees who, along with Alex’s schoolmates at Prospect Elementary School, deluged the MP company with gifts to hand out to the local children.
Santek is a corporate partner with Prospect Elementary. The company and the school decided to send packages to the soldiers in Sgt. Moore’s unit.
“When Courtney got to Iraq, he said no. Please send care packages to the children in Iraq. They need everything,” said Santek marketing vice president Cheryl Dunson.
Sgt. Moore he had asked the folks back home to think about those Iraqi children, rather than him.
“I was shocked to see that people actually lived like that,” Sgt. Moore said. “It touches your heart.”
When the big boxes from Bradley County showed up, he said, “I’m not going to lie. I’m not ashamed. I shed a tear. They were tears of joy. I am proud of my community, my son’s school, and everything they put together.”
It was the second time since his homecoming that Sgt. Moore has shared his story. The Prospect Elementary students shared a pizza party with him last week.
As an American military policeman and a trainer for Iraqi police, Sgt. Moore and his unit were in imminent danger on each mission in Basra. Sgt. Moore’s duties called for him to be in local communities. To show his trust, he would take off his body armor to share the danger with local residents, he said.
But the fun days were spent with the Iraqi children, he said.
“Three or four would come up and then run away,” he said. “And then they would come from everywhere.”
The photos he brought back show grinning children crowded around the Americans, a little girl on the street clutching a precious pair of shoes and eager youngsters at a girls’ school.
“I was really happy, really proud of my dad and all my friends,” said Alex.
Sgt. Moore said he is glad to be back home with his sons, Alex and Dré, a senior at Cleveland High School, and his wife, Sherry.