He went all the way

You don't have to have been there to know the boy in the picture is enjoying what he is doing. The smile on his face tells the story.

The boy is Darren Howe, who died last week from injuries suffered in Iraq. The newspaper picture was taken 15 years ago, when he was a kindergartner at Cedar Elementary School in Beatrice.

Howe's class was drawing pictures for servicemen who were in the Persian Gulf preparing to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

“I love you,” Howe wanted to tell the soldier.

Teacher Alvera Bade remembers the project and the student. It doesn't surprise her that Howe would still be making the extra effort to help people. She and others who knew him remember Darren as someone who always wanted to be on the side of good.