Gi Thanked Serb Guards For Treating Him Kindly

Before he walked to freedom from a cell in a Belgrade prison, Michigan Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone wrote a thank-you note to his guards.

“Thank you most of all for the cigarettes you gave me. God help you. Thank you very much, you are very kind,” said the note, which was shown Tuesday on government-run television in Yugoslavia.

“I have much liking for Serbian people after this and I will continue to pray to God for (peace sign) and an end to this war,” Stone wrote in the letter.

Stone’s note ended with his signature and the Serbian word “slobodan,” which means freedom and is a common first name among Yugoslavs - including the nation’s President Slobodan Milosevic.

U.S. Army Col. Michael Sullivan issued a statement from Landstuhl military hospital, saying Stone’s action would not be considered a breach of military conduct.

“Moments before he left his cell and after he was told he had been released,” Stone wrote “an unsolicited short note to a small group of Yugoslav guards who had treated him with dignity and respect,” Sullivan’s statement said. “The treatment by this group was in contrast to previous treatments. The note in no way reflects a lack of support for his mission or for NATO policy.”

The note, Sullivan concluded, “in no way lessens the U.S. Army Europe’s 1st Infantry Division’s respect and admiration for Staff Sgt. Stone’s personal conduct during this trying ordeal.”

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Jim Kout said, “In no way was it aimed to make any statement about the war in Kosovo.”

The Pentagon declined to release a copy of the note.