She was known as the Hug Lady. For the past 12 years, Elizabeth Laird embraced nearly every soldier deploying from and returning to Fort Hood in Texas. Whether it was 9 AM or 3 o’clock in the morning, she was there. She wanted them to know that someone cared, and was waiting for them.

Laird died on Christmas Eve after a decade-long battle with breast cancer. She was 83. In a touching discussion in Reddit’s Pics community, servicemen and women shared their memories of Laird. Many were among the estimated 500,000 troops to receive one of her famed hugs at the military base, and they wrote about what the gesture meant to them.

Here’s what they shared.

She made soldiers take their glasses off before she gave them a hug so she could look them in the eye.

A photo of Laird with redditor lightbringer1979:

She gave out cards with “The Soldier’s Prayer.”

She saw many tears.

She knew that for some soldiers, her hug may be their last.

She touched many lives, and will be missed.

There is a petition to name the Fort Hood Deployment center the Elizabeth Laird Deployment Center, and another one to posthumously present her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Also, her son created a fundraising campaign to help cover Laird’s funeral expenses. Read the original Reddit discussion here.