A promise kept

Sergeant Bill Horton, of Fort Scott keeps his promise and returns the letter that Kaytlyn Richmond, 11, Nevada, wrote and gave him before he deployed to the Middle East a year ago. Horton, a truck driver for the 443 HET-TC, works with Richmond's father and told Richmond and her class at the Nevada Middle School that, "It's one of those things that no matter how bad it got, you could open it up and see home." He told her he carried the letter 17,000 miles; "it's been in every base in Iraq, down every bad road." Horton gave Richmond a large company coin that is usually reserved for members of a unit, but he said that he and his first sergeant were proud to present the coin to her. Richmond said she was glad that Horton was home. -- Rusty Murry/Herald-Tribune [Order this photo]