Letters

Soccer ball brought smile to injured child

Thanks so much for all your support in the Voice articles printed, and especially in the way you covered my son Jerry’s year deployed with the Army in Iraq. It sure feels like a very special Christmas to have him home and safe.

Here’s something that got “saved” as a thank you at Christmas to those who supported Jer’s drive to gather soccer balls for Iraqi children.

Jer was part of a convoy leaving the Forward Operating Base on a mission. Close to the FOB was the most openly hostile village in the surrounding area.

As they headed up the road away from the FOB, the last vehicle was attacked by an IED. Immediately thereafter a white four-door sedan sped away in the opposite direction (a frequent tactic, due to the length of time it takes to turn the convoy around).

Despite warning shots, the vehicle continued fleeing with the troops in chase. Word came down to fire on the vehicle. Jer chose not to, not knowing what he was firing on. Some troops did fire.

The sedan, despite being hit, continued toward that hostile village, and as the troops pulled into the village, they came upon a mom and a dad, carrying out a wounded 5- or 6-year-old boy, bleeding from a creasing shot to the head. The car’s interior was awash in blood.

Immediately, the troops loaded up the boy and the father and took them back to the FOB for medical attention. After patching up the boy, the doctors asked to fly the dad and son via helicopter for treatment at a better medical facility. The dad declined but was most appreciative for the care his son received.

While the doctors were fixing the boy up, Jer went back to his bunk area and brought the boy a soccer ball, something the boy was thrilled to receive. Other troops brought the boy stuffed animals, etc.

There’s more to this story. A few days later, the troops went back into the village to check on the boy. There, they were informed that there was another man in the vehicle (something the parents never mentioned) and that he died. That was the source of most of the blood in the sedan. I’m not judging at all the guys that fired … they were doing their job. I’m just glad Jer didn’t … for that boy’s sake.

In a crazy world where 5- and 6-year-old boys are taken on an IED run (unjustified no matter what the source of the fanaticism), I’m glad there was something like a soccer ball there to make that poor kid smile. I’m glad people thousands of miles away care about kids, like him, who are caught in the middle of something they can’t escape.

Don Harding

Spokane Valley