Morgan said he found the response overwhelming.

There were even packages, including one from a mom in La'ie, Morgan said in an e-mail from Iraq.

"However, for me, I don't need the fat cakes and candies," he said. "What does it for me is hearing from people all over that they support what we are doing."

Kameron Fely, 18, a clerk at Kahuku.org, e-mails Lance Cpl. John Morgan, a former Kahuku High School student now serving in Iraq. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

"The lack of human contact ... does leave giant holes," he said.

It all began when Morgan, 23, contacted Kahuku.org, a Web site operated out of the school. MaryAnn Long, with Kahuku.org, said she was touched by the correspondence and forwarded his message to the 2,000-plus people on the organization's e-mail list, which includes alumni, students and supporters.

"It just shows the power of e-mail and what it can do to raise people's spirits when they're thousands of miles away.

"The fact that people have this Kahuku connection worldwide still blows my mind.

"Ever since the USA Today article, we're really realizing the reaches of our school."

The Nov. 9, 2004, article featured Hawai'i's love for high school football and profiled athletes who are sought out by college and professional teams.

Morgan's family lived in Hawai'i for eight years, leaving in 1996 and now residing in California. When they were Sunset Beach residents, the five children attended Kahuku High & Intermediate School, where Morgan's mother was a substitute teacher. Morgan said that, unlike his three older siblings, he didn't graduate from Kahuku.

"But I did develop a great pride for everything the school accomplished," he said.

Kameron Fely, 18 and a recent Kahuku graduate, said he helped pass Morgan's "cool" message to others.

Fely said he was surprised by how many people wrote back.

"I guess Kahuku is such a strong community — they really support everyone that has ties in Kahuku," said Fely, who works at Kahuku.org.

Morgan has been in the Marine Corps for three years and nine months. He served a tour of duty in Kuwait in 2002. He has a younger brother who also is a Marine and served in the Middle East. Morgan should be leaving Iraq in March.

Bill Schilling, a retired Air Force flight engineer living in Maryland, said he responded to Morgan because he thought it was wonderful that he's trying to reach out to members of his alma mater.

Schilling, who was born and raised in Hau'ula, said he, too, is proud of Kahuku.

"It was one of the smallest, and a very poor school, during my time," he said. "I always had the most wonderfully dedicated teachers. That is my fondest memory of Kahuku."

Ruth Morgan, John's mother, said she really appreciates the e-mails sent to her son because he and all the other troops need to know they are supported.

Having two sons in the military is tough on the family in California.

"It's been two years from hell," Ruth Morgan said.

"Most of the last two years we've had at least one loved one in Iraq.

"One month, both of them were there at the same time."

Former teachers, strangers and alumni have responded to her son even though the family hasn't lived in Hawai'i since 1996, but she's not surprised, she said.

"The aloha spirit is still there," she said.