Gen. George C. Marshall: My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppresion. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army,citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. And I might share with you some words which has sustained me in this long dark night of peril,loss and heartache,and I quote,"I pray that our heavenly father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement,and leave you only the chrished memory of the loved and lost.The solumn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.Aramham Lincoln.Yours very sincerely and respectly.George C Marshall,General,Chief of Staff"