To the Editor:

Thank you to the residents of Piqua!

First, thank you for the overwhelming attendance at the reception held in the food court of the Miami Valley Centre Mall. Second, for attending and supporting the movie, which then opened in 617 theaters nationwide on Jan. 24 and made $1.1 million over the first weekend.

This equates to a per-location of about $1,600. Because of the wonderful turnout at the Cinemark Miami Valley, our local cinema did approximately 8 times this amount over that same weekend! Making the Piqua Cinemark the busiest in the Cinemark corporation and in all probability also the busiest theater in the entire country for this movie over the weekend! But most of all, thank you everyone for making our guests, who were either involved in the production of the movie or actual mud soldiers who fought in that battle on the fateful day of April 11, 1966 and who traveled from as far away as Los Angeles and San Antonio, feel the spirit of our wonderful city. They were amazed at the honor paid to them and how welcome our citizens made them feel. In closing, the following message was received from producer Sidney Sherman and director/writer Todd Robinson:

“We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the incredible events you planned for the premier of “The Last Full Measure” in Piqua. All of our veterans and filmmaker guests repeatedly told us that they could not believe how beautifully you were treating them, and how special they felt. You exceeded our wildest expectations and it is very clear that the spirit of William Pitsenbarger is in every lovely citizen of Piqua. It truly was a magical two days for all of us.

Thank you again for the incredible memories that we will always cherish. America would be a better place if there were more Piqua’s.”

With deep gratitude, Sidney and Todd

— Kathy Sherman

Piqua