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8-year-old pays it forward to soldier with tear-jerker note

An 8-year-old Ohio boy whose father died in Iraq gave a $20 bill he found to a passing soldier.

By DANIELLE HAYNES, UPI.com
Myles Eckert asked to visit his father's grave after giving a $20 bill he found to a soldier he saw at a restaurant. (Tiffany Eckert)
Myles Eckert asked to visit his father's grave after giving a $20 bill he found to a soldier he saw at a restaurant. (Tiffany Eckert)

TOLEDO, Ohio, March 2 (UPI) -- An 8-year-old Ohio boy paid tribute to his dead father by giving a $20 bill he found in a parking lot to a passing soldier.

Myles Eckert visited a Toledo Cracker Barrel on Feb. 7 for an early lunch about the same time Lt. Col. Frank Dailey and his family were there, CBS News reported.

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On his way in to the restaurant, Myles discovered a $20 bill on the ground in the parking lot.

"I kind of wanted to get a video game, but then I decided not to," Myles said.

Instead, he spotted Dailey and gave him the money wrapped in a note, "because he was a soldier, and soldiers remind me of my dad," Myles said.

"Dear Soldier -- my dad was a soldier. He's in heaven now. I found this 20 dollars 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. Myles Eckert, a gold star kid," the note read.

Myles' father died in Iraq just five weeks after Myles was born.
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"I look at it every day," Dailey said of the note.

That day, Myles asked to go visit his father's grave, his mother, Tiffany Eckert said.

Dailey said he's already paid the $20 bill forward.

[CBS News]

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