Boy Donates Thousands of Comics to Military Base

A 10-year-old comic book aficionado is sharing his passion with the military. Carl Scheckel organized a campaign that gathered roughly 3,000 comic books that he donated last month to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, the AP reports. He collected them mostly through donations at comic book shows but also gave up hundreds of titles from his vast collection. The comics were shipped around the globe. Recipients are being urged to send pictures back to the boy from Montclair, NJ, to help recognize his hard work. "These comic books are a piece of home for our war-fighters downrange," Master Sgt. Dominick Griego says. "It's an amazing thing that Carl has done."

Carl, who has a website dedicated to comic book reviews and interviews, says he just wanted to do something for the troops. He says the donation campaign started when one of his subscribers asked him what he thought about donating comic books to veterans in hospitals and soldiers overseas. "I wanted to give (military personnel) something to remind them of home," Carl says. "It's really sad when you have to go away and miss your friends and family a lot. I wanted to give them something they would enjoy." In response to Carl's efforts, he was surprised with a VIP tour at the joint base led by several high-ranking base officials, which he says was "the best day of my life!" (More US military stories.)