Return letter To: Rosalind Burke From: Nathan Lazarus
Rosalind,
I'm sorry it took me so long to respond to this. If you can believe it, it took even longer for your letter to actually reach me.
Yes, I knew Ben. He was in my unit. I was his sergeant and I considered him a good soldier as well as a good friend. He told me a lot about you and your sister, and I'm very sorry for not having gotten in touch with you and your family after Ben's death. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. (Not sure if exchanging snail mail counts as meeting, but it's a good first step.)
I was there the day he died. As it happened, I suffered an injury of my own soon after that put me out of commission for a long time and eventually discharged. I think that might be why your letter took so long to get to me, it had to find me all the way back here in Wisconsin.
My new address is on the front of the envelope, but here's [ my number ], if you want to call me to talk about this more. I'm sorry to hear about your sister, and of course I'm willing to help if I can. It's not an imposition. Since it took me so long to get back to you, I'll leave it up to you if you still want me to talk to her. If so, just give me a call. It's my personal cell.