Solider Killed In Action & His Son 15 Years Later
We often focus on the things that are wrong in life because we want to fix them. It is very nice to remember there are many good things happening in life, in fact this is one of them.
The Daily Caller tells us of Army First Lt. Jonathan Rozier who was killed in action July 19, 2003 in Iraq. First Lt. Rosier left behind a wife and 8-month-old son, Justin.
His son Justin yearned for anything his father had owned, he wanted anything that would connect him with his father, a father that he really never knew, because of his age and the fact that he was KIA when he was 8 months old.
Justin is now 15 and as many 15 year old boys wanting his first car as soon as he turns 16. What Justin wanted was a car his dad once owned. His fathers last car, a 1999 Toyota Celica convertible, was sold by his widow shortly after he was killed in action because she needed the money.
Justin’s Mom wondered if the car was still out there somewhere so she posted the following message on Facebook:
Can someone please help me find this car? It's a 1999 Toyota Celica convertible,” she wrote alongside photos of the old Celica. “It was Jon's car (1LT Jonathan Rozier, KIA Iraq 7-19-03) and when he died, I wasn't thinking ahead to when Justin (his son) would be driving 15 years later. If you facebookers could work your magic and help me find it, it would be an amazing present for his 16th birthday if it hasn't become a tin can by now.
Well Facebook magic or I should say the people on Facebook magic did occur.
A few days later, Justin’s mother heard back from the daughter of the car's owner. She told his mother that she couldn’t guarantee that her father. living in Utah, would be willing to sell the car, but she gave her his phone number and told her to give it a shot.
Believe it or not but apparently when she finally spoke to him on the phone, he said he needed to think about it first. I would have said YES immediately. He called her back about an hour later and said “I think that your son will get more enjoyment out of having his dad’s car than I would”.
Follow the Flag, a Utah-based group committed to promoting patriotism, heard about this story and they started a fundraiser to pay for the car, restore it, and transport it back to Texas in time for Justin’s birthday this October.
It took two months to raise the funds buy the car and restore it but they did it and finally presented his fathers car to Justin at his birthday party. Justin’s mother told CBS news:
It’s a link to the past for him. It’s a big thing for me too. I never got to see him come home. So that one moment right there. I think I needed that.”
Check out the video supplied by CBS news to see what happened next, but I warn you that you better have some Kleenex close by:
The people who gave the funds to buy the car, the group that put it all together, the mechanics who worked on the car all gave a boy something he will never forget.
God Bless America!
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