David Masters’ son Army Private Aaron Fairbairn died today in Afghanistan. A suicide bomber breached the perimeter and detonated his truck, killing Aaron and another officer.
I did not know Aaron. I do not know David.
@DavidMMasters broke the news on Twitter. “They killed my son, Aaron!” he wrote. It was very hard to read.
He asked the Twitter community to tweet #ThankYouAaron. And we did. By the thousands. Comforting a grieving father. Another testament to the power of social media in general, and Twitter in particular.
I suspect David will read this post at some point. Leave him a note.
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I’m sorry for you and your family’s loss, David.
Joe — great example of the power and influential reach of Twitter.
.-= Tshombe´s last blog ..What does generational marketing have to do with selling? =-.
David, I hope this very public exposure of your loss, and the messages from so many people, help you and your family to grieve, to celebrate his life and to honor and share his selfless sacrifice with us all.
Joe, thanks for pointing this out to me and for helping us better understand the pain of a fellow American.
Thanks for your comments @Tshombe and @BCCreative.
Here is an update about Aaron’s death: http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/06/thankyouaaron-an-update/
David,
I’m very sorry for your loss and for your family’s loss.
Your son gave the ultimate sacrifice for us all.
I know I’m not the only one reading this who appreciates what our military does for this country. Would you consider starting a memorial fund or scholorship to honor his memory? Imagine if everyone who read this gave one dollar. We would all help get the word out…
Great story, very touching. Most people that i speak to use Twitter for targeted business practices and others seem to use it alot for inane childish gossip, so its refreshing to hear when the many millions of members can actually come up with something useful between them! Certainly a positive spin on such a tragedy.
Thank you, John and Tom for your comments.
Tom, @dannybrown‘s 12for12k.org effort is another great example of social media for good. I’m a member. I invite my readers to check it out.
Danny’s site invites $10 donations each month from its members. His goal is 1,200 members each donating $10 per month = $12,000 for each selected organization. He’s received wonderful press for his work.
Joe,
Thank you for sharing this story – I didn’t see any of this. I am really sorry for David’s loss. I’ve lost a family member on active duty myself so I know the emotions he and his family are going through. If there’s any “positives” from this, it’s that Aaron died doing the job he loved, protecting the country he loves. As David says, Aaron was a true hero.
.-= Danny Brown´s last blog ..Evian Shows Traditional Media and Advertising Far From Dead =-.