Gulf War Letters Lead to Nuptials Now

War Pen Pals Find Each Other on Facebook After Nearly Two Decades, Fall in Love and Get Married

(CBS)  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."

[dkkt]

This story was in no way newsworthy, especially when they left out alot of details, if you want to report the past, why wasn't the part mentioned that this woman was married when she seeked out another man. I suppose because that wouldn't make it so romantic, this story is far from amazing. People these days treat marriage vows like they don't mean a thing. What is so amazing about meeting someone on the internet, sneaking around on your husband to "reconnect" and marry them a few months later, and then to go on national tv to exploit yourself...it's more than a huge slap in the face to her ex-husband.

[K_Daniella]

'Msbehaving1222'..
Well I hope you feel better now that you have went and commented on every single article related to this story.
Regardless of what Jamie did or didn't do, and what anyone thinks about it.. she is obviously happy NOW.
I'm sure her EX-husband will make someone very happy.
It sounds like all the parties involved in this story have moved on, except you.. Remember cheating isn't the ONLY problem in a marriage, its the symptom of something bigger.
Good luck coping darling. I think this story is amazing. :)
Congrats Jamie & Jeremy!

[msbehaving1222]

Too bad they don't tell you that Jaime was married when she went looking for Jeremy online and left her wonderfully sweet husband of nearly 8 years to do all of this. Pathetic to get news time when you ruin one man to run off with another one.

[sam-kiley]

bonjour maggie RODRIGUEZ
c'est une histoire trés émouvante, je suis sure que des centaines d'histoires semblables se passent a taver le monde..au quotidien grace au net ou autre..des étrangers apprennent a se connaitre par courriels et finissent par se rencontrer...
jamie et jéremy toutes mes félicitations..soyez heureux ..au revoir