San Ramon Students Getting Hero's Welcome At School After Letter Campaign To Soldiers

SAN RAMON (CBS SF) -- A group of third-graders who started a letter-writing campaign to U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan will get a hero's welcome at school in San Ramon on Wednesday morning.

Five Montevideo Elementary School students carrying a special American flag will be escorted on their bicycles to school by an honor guard comprised of San Ramon police officers, Mayor Bill Clarkson and members of the U.S. troop support group, Warriors Watch Riders.

The soldiers aboard U.S. Army vessel M.G. Robert Smalls sent the flag to the students after twin brothers Will and Evan Calvert, 9, enlisted fellow students to write letters to the crew members, said the boys' mother, Dana Calvert.

The boys started writing letters to the soldiers aboard the ship after learning from an army sergeant and family friend that many soldiers do not receive letters from home, Calvert said.

She said that in addition to writing letters themselves, the twins enlisted members of their Cub Scout troop and classmates to write to servicemen and women aboard the Robert Smalls. In the end, they sent 130 letters to the 31 soldiers on the ship.

"It was an incredible learning experience for them," she said.

"They saw that doing a small thing can make a big difference."

The flag, which flew on the ship through the Persian Gulf during Operation Enduring Freedom, will be presented to the entire student body of Montevideo Elementary, located at 13000 Broadmoor Drive, around 8:30 a.m., Calvert said.

Active duty military members are also expected to attend, and members of California High School's chamber choir will lead the students in singing the National Anthem.

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