Gulf War Letters Lead to Nuptials Now

In this digital age of e-mail and tweets, it's sometimes easy to forget the value of a handwritten letter.

But two long ago pen pals will forever remember the role that letters played in their lives. In the midst of the first Gulf War almost two decades ago, 13-year-old Jaime Benefit wrote a letter addressed to "Any Soldier," expressing her support for the troops as they prepared to invade Iraq.

The letter made its way to Pfc. Jeremy Clayton, a 19-year-old soldier from Charleston, S.C., who was serving with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

After losing touch for almost two decades, they reconnected through the social networking site Facebook, when Benefit searched Clayton's name and sent him a short message: "Were you in Desert Storm?"

Not only did their friendship prove as strong as they remembered, but it blossomed into something more.

The two fell in love, and, as of last month, are married.

Jeremy and Jaime Clayton appeared on "The Early Show" to share their experience of corresponding with each other during the war, and finding each other after all those years apart.

So how did he become Jaime's "Any Soldier"?

Jeremy said on "The Early Show" Thursday he chose Jaime's letter out of the thousands that arrived because he was drawn to her green handwriting.
Over the time they were pen pals, Jaime and Jeremy exchanged one photo with each other.

Jaime sent her school picture with a message on the back: "Jeremy, this is my most recent picture, this year's school picture. Hope you like it. Love you always, Jaime."

Jeremy's photo was of him covered in camouflage with a message of his own: "Jaime, here I am. The only picture I could muster up for right now. I still couldn't tell you what I look like for all the camouflage on my face. February 1990."

Though Jaime kept all of her letters, Jeremy was only able to keep a few because he had to destroy them before the ground war in case he was captured.

However, he did manage to keep a couple by hiding them in his vehicle.

Jeremy told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez he got through the war with her letters and their bond. However, the two lost touch after the ground war began.

Jaime, after years of wondering what happened to him, began searching through nearly 300 Jeremy Claytons on the Internet, finally finding herpen pal on Facebook.

"I just wondered how he was," Jaime said. "I thought, 'I need to find him.'"

She said she saw his picture and knew it was him by the eyes she remembered from the camouflage picture.

After writing to him and talking, the two decided to meet.

Jeremy described the experience of seeing how the 13-year-old girl he corresponded with had grown into a woman as "shock and awe."

Both Jaime and Jeremy said they knew from their first meeting they wanted to get married.

"It's wonderful," Jaime said of their marriage. "It's really just a dream come true. I never thought that it would turn out this way and be so happy and have my soul mate."