Clearfield County native and retired veteran connect through special gift

CLEARFIELD COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) – In 2010 David Staffa, a Green Beret based at the Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan received a special gift from a Clearfield County native.

Gretchen Yaeger was a student at Clearfield Elementary. On a cold November afternoon, she arrived home from school. Her grandmother, Sue, got home shortly after. She excitedly told Yaeger that she had gotten a bunch of bed sheets donated from a local hotel. She worked at the high school at the time and passed them out to students to decorate for troops in Afghanistan.

After brainstorming together, they came up with the idea of drawing Snoopy along with the “Red Baron” song.

“I worked on my drawing for hours on the kitchen floor and my grandma neatly wrote out the song. My mother took a picture of me, very proud of my hard work. She posted to Facebook with the caption “Gretchen’s picture for Operation Santa,” Yaeger said.

The sheet was sent overseas and the gift caught the eye of Staffa. He was deployed near the Pakistan border and was rocketed frequently and ground assaults did occur. He says Christmas was quiet and they tried to make it festive. But he says the best thing that occurred during the week before Christmas was the voluminous amount of Christmas mail from children in the United States. The mail consisted of handmade cards with well-wishing comments. It was a bit of home that gave us a good feeling.

“I know all types of music, all types of genres. And when I saw that picture and the words to the music on the corner, it was the most wonderful sign,” Staffa said. “That brings us back and knowing that home is still there and is normal. It gives a warm, fuzzy feeling, a maybe a better sleep that night.”

Staffa said the sheet left a tremendous positive impression on him. The only problem was he could only tell that a 10-year-old named Gretchen had made the sheet, but he couldn’t tell where she was from. Fast forward to 2023, Staffa began his mission to track down Yaeger to thank her for the gift.

When looking at the sheet it was almost an almost impossible task. With no last name, Staffa glanced at the artwork again to see that she had signed it with her hometown of Clearfield, Pennsylvania. He then messaged the Clearfield Mayor who then connected the two.

Over 14 years had gone by until one night Yaeger received an unusual message from the mayor through Facebook. He said that the veteran who had received the sheet all those years ago wanted to thank her for helping bring a little holiday spirit during those hard times.

“I was so excited that my gift from all those years ago really did make a difference. It has been wonderful to talk with David and get to know more about his life. I think that his story is incredibly inspiring and I am so glad I was able to connect with him,” Yaeger said.

Gretchen lives in Maryland with her fiance Justin and their dog Gatsby. She works in an elementary school as a kindergarten teacher. This experience of her artwork and connection with a soldier has shown her, once again, that it’s a small world and small gestures can have a huge impact.

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After 30+ years in the United States Army as a Special Forces solider, David Staffa returned and moved to Clermont, Florida. His past time includes assisting veterans and he has just published his first book available on Amazon , The Last Deployment: Afghanistan.

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