'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'

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In the spring of this year, the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles deployed to Afghanistan. Halfway through the battalion's tour, it has lost nine soldiers, with dozens injured.


Of those to have given their lives, four were teenagers. Here Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher, who was 19 when he was killed by an explosion near Gereshk seven weeks ago, tells his own story, through letters home and the last letter he left behind to bid farewell to his family – his mother Helena, father Robin and brothers Zac, 21, and Steely, 17.



Following are the words of a proud soldier described by his officers as possessing "a rucksack full of potential", and by his friends as a rascal always cracking jokes and helping to keep morale high.



Most of all, they are the words of a young son to his mum, dad and brothers.

Terri Judd
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27 April 2009


Hello Mum


I've just got your bluey [letter] (the 1st one) yea you are right it does get ****ing hot, I can't work out wether I'm tanned or just burnt to ****!! I've spoke to you on the phone so you no what I've been doing. I'm well proud of you loosing all that weight. Suppose you've got a pretty good insentive. We'v had the same **** maybe a month now. Everyday a Monday out here. You kind of loose track of days. I cant quite work out if its going fast or slow. This pen is **** its doing my head in!!



Iv been thinking of loads of things and places to do, go and see. Me and Elliott are gonna go to Amsterdam after this. THINK WE MAY HAVE DESERVED IT!! It should be a good day (November 5th) [their homecoming parade]. On the 6th we can go Belfast Iv'e got loads of sad things I wanna buy ie Sky+ Big TV. Get the old man to help me rearange my room and help me fix my shelves. Im not the DIY type normally resort to celler tape or blue tack. HA HA HA. Hope everyones safe at home. Complete detox out here – water no drink. So my dance moves might involve a bit of stumbling when I return! Im coming home 2 weeks earlier now so that's kinda good, it might be worth Zac picking me up give me a bit of chill out time so I don't try stab a gobby civvi plus he's a good listener, sumtimes I wonder if he's listening or thinking of sumthing completely irrelivant.


Well pass this round the family so they can all admire my extream spelling (infantry eh!). Lots of love to all the nearest and dearest. Love Ya!! Xxxx


1 May 2009

Hey Mum + family



Ill always address my letters to you cuz I no your probley the only one who gets to the mail!! You'll have to let me no how quick these are getting you ill keep writing the date?? Everything is good up this way getting hotter, still moving at a million miles per hour (HA HA HA) I think Iv'e stopped burning Im slowly going brown and my hair is getting ridiculous just wait till I come home ill look like a ****ing wooky?! I was gonna write to granny + grandad but to be honest with the few spare hours I get Id'e rather write home ey? BTW send my regards to Daphne, Joan, Brian etc. Let em no how Im doing?



Every so often we get old people and churches send us little gifts like baby wipes, razors, sweets and stuff so its quite a good bit of moral. Got some really good photos ill have to bring my camera back so we can get that Kosovo collage on the go, to bring back on the 5th of November. If you saw what and where Ive been sleeping you would be shocked!! So pictures will back me up!



Unfortunately 3 blokes died 2 days ago in an IED explosion in one of the FOBs [Forward Operating Bases] bout 2 kilometers away – we visited that FOB 2 days before the attack – ****ing mental quite scary actually! We'v had a rest day so Im doing a bit of hand washing and fitness! God you'd be so proud Ha! Ha! Ha! We've still had spam, rice, beans and unflavoured noodles every day – promise me actually I promise you if I see spam in the house ill ****ing destroy it!! Im getting pretty good at making flat bread and we bout a goat of a local for 200 dollars and we slaughtered it. I got a good video. Its either catch it, kill it, or make it out here or else you go hungry LOL!!



The showers are also freezing whilst Im on the subject of moaning?? Id'e best go again BUT ill keep writing when I get the time + ill be home in a couple of months. Love you'zzz all don't worry bout me to much. Theres only 3 things that kill people over hear BULLETS, BOMBS + EGOS so I might go down with a bad case of swollen head!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Love ya xxxxx




12 May 2009
Hello Mother



Yesterday was a massive day for moral an american chopper came in yesterday. I got 5 blueys one from Zac, Daphne, I think Sharpie sent one and Dad?? With some pictures that was great. I stared at them for about an hour I cant explain how good it is to get pictures and stuff you get grown men close to tears at the sight of there kid or a good night out its really strange how this place ****s with your head and emotions.



A BIG ONE that I NEED you to try do (get started ill help when I get back) is appeal to local charitys, churches, major companys ie Zoo, Cadburys, boots you name it. Write to them and explain my whereabouts and they do send gifts, chocolate, sweets, magazines you name it trust me a lot of the lads parents did it and they've got clothes, the lot. Trust me Red bull, lucazade, fags AND SWEETS are wicked just keep sending them and URGE people to send photos they keep the moral SKY HIGH. I thought Steely and Zacs [poses] in the garden were quality. I can only prove how much a letter or small parcel means by finding time to right back – that's probley the most precious thing I have and Id'e trade hours for a letter.



On some much sadder news one of our rifleman died a few days back, we had a parade and a few minutes silence its so strange how many emotions you go through living in these conditions its like everything wants to beat you and rewin your day. Its about not letting it get to you and don't worry nothing ****ing gets to me. Well Im off I love you all loads thanks for my parcels and letters. Lots of love xxx



14 May 2009

Hey Mum!



Its just gone 10 in the morning here Im on a stag rotation for the next 7 days guarding the FOB. Its 6 hours on 3 hours off so not much sleep. (Im already an hour in). If you could see what Im looking at now you'd be pretty shocked. Its pretty stunning to be honest. I could probley sling shot a stone from where we were last contacted [shot at] from Ha! Ha! Ha! Pretty ****ing crazy huh? I shouldn't really tell you this but its safer than on the phone – were leaving this place. Its gonna be a ****ing massive operation moving this lot + a lot of helicopter rides.



So when I come back after R&R [leave] ill fly to [the main British camp] bastion then out to our new FOB. You don't really do much on stag. Swetting my tits of its gonna hit 50 degrees today. AAAAH **** my grenade just fell out of my [body armour] – we wont mention that to any higherarcy will we now.



I think you said you were going to a weight loss thing a few days ago hope that well? (Just keep going) 37 days ill be home – not that Im counting or anything??? THINK there's a bird coming in today at 13.30 so this bluey will probley arrive with the others – well as always gotta go ill try ring when I get a top-up of minuets on Monday. **** knows what day it is I thought it was Sunday today. Ha! Ha! Well lots of love to you all!



Cyrus Thatcher was killed on 2 June 2009. This is the letter he wrote to be delivered to his family if he died:

Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read but I write this knowing every time you thinks ****s got to much for you to handle (so don't cry on it MUM!!) you can read this and hopefully it will help you all get through.
For a start **** I got hit!! Now Iv got that out the way I can say the things Iv hopefully made clear, or if I havent this should clear it all up for me. My hole life you'v all been there for me through thick and thin bit like a wedding through good and bad. Without you I believe I wouldn't have made it as far as I have. I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself although the army was sadly the ending of me it was also the making of me so please don't feel any hate toward it. One thing I no I never made clear to you all was I make jokes about my life starting in the Army.



That's wrong VERY wrong my life began a LONG time before that (Obviously) but you get what I mean. All the times Iv tried to neglect the family get angry when you try teach me right from wrong wot I mean to say is I only realised that you were trying to help when I joined the army and without YOUR help I would have never had the BALLS, the GRIT and the damn right determination to crack on and do it. If I could have a wish in life it would to be able to say Iv gone and done things many would never try to do. And going to Afghan has fulfilled my dream ie my goal. Yes I am young wich as a parent must brake you heart but you must all somehow find the strength that I found to do something no matter how big the challenge. As Im writing this letter I can see you all crying and mornin my death but if I could have one wish in an "after life" it would be to stop your crying and continueing your dreams (as I did) because if I were watching only that would brake my heart. So dry your tears and put on a brave face for the rest of your friends and family who need you.



I want each and everyone of you to forfill a dream and at the end of it look at what you have done (completed) and feel the accomplishment and achievement I did only then will you understand how I felt when I passed away.



[To his brothers:] You are both amazing men and will continue to be throughout your lives you both deserve to be happy and fofill all of your dreams.



Dad – my idol, my friend, my best friend, my teacher, my coach, everything I ever succeeded in my life I owe to you and maybe a little bit of me! You are a great man and the perfect role model and the past two years of being in the army I noticed that and me and you have been on the best level we have ever been. I thank you for nothing because I no all you have given to me is not there to be thanked for its there because you did it cause you love me and that is my most proudest thing I could ever say.


Mum, where do I start with you!! For a start your perfect, your smell, your hugs, the way your life was dedicated to us boys and especially the way you cared each and every step us boys took. I love you, you were the reason I made it as far as I did you were the reason I was loved more than any child I no and that made me feel special.



Your all such great individuals and I hope somehow this letter will help you get through this **** time!! Just remember do NOT mourn my death as hard as this will seem, celebrate a great life that has had its ups and downs. I love you all more than you would ever no and in your own individual ways helped me get through it all. I wish you all the best with your dreams.
Remember chin up head down. With love Cyrus xxxx



I cried.
 
Even in death he could humour himself. God damn :(
 
What an awesome attitude to be keeping up. He was so close to going home too. ****s sake man. The final letter was sad.
 
to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.
 
Holy crap, he was still a child. Poor guy. He kept up a good attitude.
 
There should be laws against teenagers joining the military TBH. Allowing them to make stupid ****ing decisions and dying for shitty governments is a waste of a life.

PLus a teenager dying in a modern war in this day and age who isn't one of the natives seems Victorian.
 
That was really sad.

My brother looks like he'll be joining the Marines (he's American born and dead keen on it for some reason) so I hope i'm not reading his future :(

to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.
Farrowlesparrow said:
You wonder why I don't like you.

This.
 
to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.

I was wondering when somebody would point that out. To which point I was hoping somebody would attack them for focusing on something so trivial.

Sad story indeed.
 
to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.

Way to butcher it further with your lack of correct punctuation.
 
Don't mean to sound insensitive, but tl;dr.

Summary plox?
 
Oh, for ****'s sake, Dog. The guy writes touching, funny letters to his parents and one of them is posthumous. Happy?
 
Bah, I just read the last couple of lines, and if you get past the horrible spelling, the only humorous thing about it was the last line..
 
Saw this on reddit a few days ago, brought a tear to my eye. War sucks. And yet so many people still seem to think it's necessary. Someday...
 
oh **** you guys. i don't use capital letters because it's time consuming.

i was just being a bit provocative...yes it is sad, but come on. how can a native englishman be so bad at it?
 
oh **** you guys. i don't use capital letters because it's time consuming.

i was just being a bit provocative...yes it is sad, but come on. how can a native englishman be so bad at it?

time consuming? pfft, because it takes so much time to hold down shift with your pinkie while you're pressing the same key you'd be pressing otherwise :rolleyes: at least be honest about it, I personally don't always capitalize because I like how it looks this way!

also you should consider the fact that the military is generally made up primarily of poor and lesser educated people. he's clearly not a good speller, doesn't mean he's not intelligent, it just means he never learned to properly spell. certainly no reason to not feel sorry for him for being killing in action at the age of 19.
 
So is the thread title saying this will be hard for his mom to read because of the poor english, or because of the content? I didnt read through the whole thing because it was pretty annoying to me too.
 
I found it annoying too.

That just makes it all the more tragic, that young, uneducated, and poor people are being sent over there to get blown to bits for no good reason.
 
time consuming? pfft, because it takes so much time to hold down shift with your pinkie while you're pressing the same key you'd be pressing otherwise :rolleyes: at least be honest about it, I personally don't always capitalize because I like how it looks this way!

also you should consider the fact that the military is generally made up primarily of poor and lesser educated people. he's clearly not a good speller, doesn't mean he's not intelligent, it just means he never learned to properly spell. certainly no reason to not feel sorry for him for being killing in action at the age of 19.

My cousin is in the Navy, became a medic and working towards becoming a SEAL. Very intelligent guy, same age as me.

One of the absolute most god awful terrible spellers and writers I have ever seen though.

No offense if you're reading Cody, I love ya!
 
Hmmm, i'm going in the military in a few months... Maybe i'll send you guys some funny letters. :D
 
As much as I hate to be the hater, but reading it annoyed me as well.
 
I actually read this all, Once I started I couldn't stop. It's sad ):
 
Man, that sucks. Makes me worry about my friend who is joining the Marines. He just graduated from high school and ships out in october.
 
Sad stuff indeed. Still, bet it's nice to have something that almost gives you a summary of there thoughts, leaves nothing unsaid or left to wonder on..
/Salute
 
to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.

This, unfortunately.
 
his english seems normal to me

I laughed a lot at this.

This story (which is undeniably upsetting) is unfortunately overshadowed by the context - a teenager in an iffy war. Ah well.
 
Has anyone achieved anything in this war? Peace? No. Will they ever? No. Why are we fighting it? ...
 
To all those people who would make him some sort of anti-war martyr or those who have the knee-jerk reaction that opines this grand struggle as absurd:

It seems to me that this guy was more a man than any of us here could hope to achieve in our lifetimes. I admire his dedication to duty, his courage that enabled him to go out and fight the common enemy that plagues mankind, and his optimistic attitude that shines as a great example to all those who may follow in his path. True, he was a teenager, and his grasp of the English language leaves something to be desired, but age matters not in this ideological struggle that boils down to this: Free Democracy versus Theocratic Tyranny. In the decades before him, many gave their lives willingly for the common human ideal of freedom, and some of them were even 14-year old schoolgirls.

I do not doubt for a moment that war is a terrible thing; even I who has never experienced it shudder at the thought of war. However, it is not the terriblest of things: the decayed state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth a war, is worse. The thought that this grand struggle against one of the cruelest enemies of Man will not acheive anything strikes me as an disgusting notion of utter defeatism, if not cowardice. To win a war, the soldiers on the front as well as the citizens in the homeland must be armed with the complete total dedication to that belief, that ideal, which states quite openly that mankind as a whole is entitled to be the master of his own house, able to enjoy freedom and justice without hinderance.

If he is used as some kind of symbol for any partisan cause, save for the cause that he believed in, than it would be a serious dishonor done to his memory. Treat this man with the respect that he deserves, and the diginity he has earned for himself.

For it is right.



/endrant.
 
to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.

To be that much of a ****ing asshole about it you have to have pretty good punctuation and grammar skill yourself. And you are incapable of capitalizing the first word of a goddamn sentence.
 
to be honest, his butchering of the English language doesn't make me feel that sorry for him. reading these letters was ****ing annoying.

I know they already busted your ass for it, but I just want to know, what exactly makes a person's life more valuable, the fact that they can't spell, (or don't want to bother) or because they spent their life trying to make something of themselves, giving their life for a cause that many, maybe including themselves, don't agree with? The fact that your minor annoyance makes his life invaluable is absurd, and that, my friend, is an old mindset. And outdated mindset. Pull your head out of your ass and set your values straight.

I feel for this soldier and his family. It feels like I know him. He was so cool with where he was at, his entire perceived mindset in the hell he was in is outstanding, and even his farewell letter seemed to be okay with the fact that he may die. It takes a glorious person to be like that.
 
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