Tearjerker: CBS Spotlights Gold Star Son's Heartfelt Note to National Guardsman

February 28th, 2014 9:12 PM

Steve Hartman had trouble holding back his own tears on Friday's CBS Evening News, as he profiled the beyond kind act of an eight-year-old boy in Ohio. Myles Eckert, whose father was killed in Iraq when he was just a baby, enclosed a $20 bill he found in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant in a note, and gave them to a member of the Ohio Air National Guard who was having lunch there.

Hartman interviewed both Eckert and Lieutenant Colonel Frank Dailey, who received the heartfelt message from the Gold Star son (text of Eckert's note, and CBSNews.com video of Hartman's report below the jump):

STEVE HARTMAN: ...[W]ith his dad in mind, Myles [Eckert] wrapped the twenty in a note that read, 'Dear soldier, my dad was a soldier. He's in heaven now. I found this $20 in the parking lot when we got here. We like to pay it forward in my family. It's your lucky day! Thank you for your service.' Signed, 'a Gold Star kid.'

The correspondent traveled to Toledo to spotlight the touching story of how Eckert and Lt. Colonel Dailey met. Hartman also devoted much of the segment to the child's relationship with his father, whom he didn't know in this life. The journalist himself was moved by the account, as voice cracked at several points in his voice-over.