The Story from APM

Poet and Soldier

Thursday, May 22 2008

Poet and soldier

Fran and Ben Richey

When Fran Richey's son, Ben, went to West Point, they started arguing about politics. After he joined Special Forces and went to Iraq, they pretty much stopped communicating, and Fran took refuge in writing poems.

Fran started sharing her poems with her son after he returned from Iraq. Much to their surprise, her poems helped re-open lines of communication. Now the poems have been published and they're both talking about the change in their relationship.

• Learn more about Fran's book of poetry, The Warrior
• See Fran and Ben at West Point in 1994

A brick from the past

Chris Thurin

Chris Thurin says his years at West High School in Minneapolis were some of the best days of his life. When the school was torn down in the 1980's, he asked his sister to pick something up from the site. When she arrived there wasn't much left aside from a heap of bricks. So she sent him two - which Chris deposited in the trunk of his car. Years later, these nearly-forgotten bricks would be at the heart of a humbling chance encounter with another West High School graduate.

Music heard in this story: Be True to Your School by The Beach Boys for the album Sounds of Summer - The Very Best of the Beach Boys