Soldier Comes Home From Afghanistan Gift Wrapped for Mom

The heart-melting moment a soldier surprises his family by jumping out of a gift box after nine months in Afghanistan
Patrick Conwell, of Nashville, Tennessee, made his creative entrance at a party where his parents and sister were expecting to learn the gender of his brother's baby
Daily Mail
By ERIN CLEMENTS FOR MAILONLINE
24 December 2014

A soldier who recently returned home from Afghanistan has given his family a heartwarming holiday surprise by jumping out of a gift-wrapped box.

Patrick Conwell, 31, enlisted the help of his brother Matthew, who told their mother, father and sister that he and his expectant wife would be hosting a party to reveal the gender of their baby - and that the giant box next to their Christmas tree contained either a pink or blue balloon that would signify whether they were having a boy or girl.

Instead, Patrick, who had been in Afghanistan for the past nine months before returning home to Nashville, Tennessee, was waiting in the package, clad in fatigues and bearing a green balloon.
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Dec 23, 2014
Coming home from Afghanistan and surprising my family under the guise of a 'reveal party' for my brother's new baby, December 2014.

Louis Zamperini Captured By Grace, Saved By Christ

Review: ‘Unbroken,’ improbable and incomplete
Charlotte Observer
By Lawrence Toppman
Posted: Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014

According to the film “Unbroken,” Louis Zamperini had 30 percent of a remarkable life. By the time he was 28, he had competed as an Olympic distance runner, enlisted in the Army Air Force, crashed on a bombing run, survived six weeks on a raft at sea and endured terrible torture in a Japanese prison camp before coming back to the United States.

There director Angelina Jolie leaves him, seven decades before his death last July.

We don’t see his alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home, the decay of his marriage, the vengeful hatred that led him to strangle his captors in his nightmares. Nor do we see his conversion to Christianity after a 1949 Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles, an event he credited with saving his sanity, marriage and perhaps his life. He was able to forgive his tormentors, even going back to Japan to try to do so in person.

Perhaps the filmmakers were afraid his devout faith would consign their movie to the low-attendance ghetto where Christian movies often land. Maybe they felt the story was too long and complex. (In that case, it should have been a miniseries.) Maybe Jolie, who’s not a Christian, couldn’t figure out how to convey what Zamperini went through after faith healed him.
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This is what was missing in Unbroken.

From Billy Graham Crusades

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to Release New Documentary Film About Unbroken’s Louis Zamperini
December 15, 2014

Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 15, 2014 – The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will release a new documentary film on Dec. 25 called Louis Zamperini: Captured by Grace. Zamperini is also the subject of Universal Pictures’ Unbroken, the movie based on the best-selling book of the same name by Laura Hillenbrand.

Captured by Grace is a compelling, documentary-style film that chronicles Zamperini’s remarkable journey—from Olympic runner to WWII prisoner of war—all the way to his return home and encounter with Jesus Christ at a Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles in 1949. The film includes recent interview footage of Zamperini sharing his complete story in his own words.

Zamperini DVD“I started to leave the tent meeting, and I felt awful guilty about my life,” Zamperini says about his experience at the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade held in a constructed tent on the corner of Washington and Hill streets in Los Angeles. “Yes, I had a lot of great times, a lot of great experience, a lot of escape from death, but I still didn’t like my life after the war. I came home alive. God kept His promise. I didn’t keep mine, and so I went forward and accepted Christ.”

“The heart of this story is when I found Christ as my Savior,” Zamperini continues. “That’s the heart of my whole life.”

Captured by Grace can be viewed online starting Dec. 25, and will be available via DVD as an offer of appreciation with any contribution to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The special DVD includes several bonus features: the short film Zamperini: Still Carrying the Torch; footage from Louis Zamperini’s visit to the Billy Graham Library in 2011; Louis Zamperini’s testimonies shared from 1958 and 1974 Billy Graham crusades and more. For more information, to watch a short trailer for the film, or preorder a copy, visit www.billygraham.org/unbroken.

Zamperini, who passed away earlier this year, visited Billy Graham in June of 2011 at his home in Montreat, N.C. At age 94, he also visited the Billy Graham Library where he signed copies of the New York Times bestseller Unbroken and greeted many WWII veterans. Up until his passing, Zamperini was an inspirational speaker and shared his life-changing testimony at several of Graham’s Crusades, including San Francisco (1958) and Los Angeles (1963, 1974).

This coming New Year’s Day, Will Graham, at the request of the City of Torrance, will represent his grandfather Billy Graham at the 126th Rose Parade on Zamperini’s hometown float. The parade’s theme for 2015 is “Inspiring Stories.” Zamperini was selected earlier this year to be the Grand Marshal of the annual event, and despite his passing, the Tournament of Roses Committee decided to use the opportunity to honor his life.

Homeless Veteran and Wife Get Hotel Stay for Christmas

Remember the Christmas story when a man and his wife were looking for a place to stay? They had to depend on the kindness of strangers. They were given shelter and were grateful for a stable. This story has it all.

A homeless veteran and his wife were not only given a place to stay for Christmas in style, they were given a community full of love.

The homeless veteran is a member of the old guard after serving 24 years. He is among those forgotten by far too many charities only interested in younger servicemembers.

If you read Wounded Times often, you'll love this story because of the strange twist that took place.

A hotel for the holidays: Ottawans get homeless couple a suite for Christmas
Ottawa Citizen
Allison McNeely
Published on: December 24, 2014

An Ottawa homeless man — who asked to be named only as Kevin — is spending the holidays in a hotel with his wife, thanks to the generosity of a pair of Ottawans.
Allison McNeely / Ottawa Citizen

Two Ottawa residents, brought together by chance and Facebook, are giving good holiday cheer to a homeless couple.

Rhu Hashemi, 21, and Angie Haddad, 26, teamed up to give two nights of all-expenses-paid rest at an Ottawa hotel to a homeless man and his wife.

It started with a chance encounter between Hashemi, a fourth-year commerce student at Carleton University, and the homeless man, who asked to be known as Kevin for this story, outside of a ByWard Market bar.

Hashemi knew Kevin, 46, as the homeless man who can do 140 consecutive pushups.

“Me and the boys, we go out in the Market and we see him,” said Hashemi. “He schooled one of my buddies in a 51 one-handed pushup competition.”

Hashemi was leaving a bar on Nov. 30, after hosting a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project, when he bumped into Kevin and they got to talking. Kevin told Hashemi that he was a veteran of the Canadian Forces.

Hashemi later decided he wanted to get to know him a little better, tracking him down at the Shepherds of Good Hope, where he has been living since June.

Over a coffee, Kevin told Hashemi that he is a 24-year veteran of the Canadian infantry and he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after tours in Bosnia and Somalia. Hashemi said he was so touched by Kevin’s story that he gave the $250 he had raised for the Wounded Warrior Project to him.

Hashemi then decided to raise money for the Shepherds of Good Hope by posting a photo of Kevin in front of the War Memorial on Facebook. The Dec. 14 post got more than 1,700 shares, 300 likes and raised more than $800 for the Shepherds of Good Hope.
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Department of Defense Paying for PTSD Service Dogs

Sorry if you thought this story about about the US military paying for PTSD service dogs. After all, that would mean they were leading the way instead of being years behind.

DEFENSE TO PAY FOR PTSD ASSIST DOGS
by Janene Van Jaarsveldt
Posted on Dec 25, 2014

The Ministry of Defense will help pay the cost of service dogs for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Hulphond Nederland (Service Dog Netherlands) have been assisting veterans for years.

In 2012 they placed the first service dog with a veteran with PTSD. They also participated in a Defense investigation into the use and effects of service dogs on veterans suffering with PTSD.

The assistance dogs can recognize, among other things, the first symptoms of a nightmare and give warning. They can help their owners avoid stressful situations and help them feel safe and secure.

According to the foundation, the dogs help veterans better recover from their trauma.
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Soldier in Afghanistan Sends Santa on a Mission in Indiana

Video: Santa gets down on one knee to help soldier in Afghanistan propose to girlfriend
The St. Nick at the Eastland Mall in Indiana surprised Kimberly Roberts with a bouquet of roses and an engagement ring from her boyfriend, Clint Underhill, who is stationed in Afghanistan.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY RACHELLE BLIDNER
Tuesday, December 23, 2014

She must have been on the nice list.

A mall Santa got down on one knee and proposed to an Indiana woman on behalf of her boyfriend, a soldier in Afghanistan, on Tuesday.

Kimberly Roberts sat in Santa's plush green chair at the Eastland Mall in Evansville, Ind., as her mother hit record on a video camera.

St. Nick asked Roberts for her Christmas wish.

"I want my boyfriend to come home from Afghanistan safe," Roberts said of her then-boyfriend, Clint Underhill.

Santa stroked his beard and told her to hold on a second. He grabbed a bouquet of red roses from next to his chair and kneeled beside her.

"Kimberly, our time together has been nothing short of amazing," Santa read off a piece of paper from Underhill. "Not a day goes by I don't realize how lucky I am to be with you."
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The Christ Tree Healing Combat PTSD

The Christ Tree
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 20, 2014

NANEUM RIDGE STATE FOREST

Every year a group of men trecked through the woods on Christmas Eve to gather around one simple tree.

The tradition began when each of them had been wandering the woods with troubled hearts and horrible memories. Each of them tried to run away from their past after everyone they knew had either walked away from them or pushed them away.

No one walks away from combat the same way they arrived in it no matter how many times they went. Each time a piece of them is left there and a different one tags along. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cannot be cured but it can be healed and it can be defeated.

Think of it this way. Painful Transition from Stressful Deployments. It wins by defeating what is still good inside of the veterans by attacking the source of everything. Their courage, compassion and their love for those they were willing to die for.

The first Christmas Eve they came together they discovered a man sitting near the tree. His name was Adam and just like them, he had been searching for a place where he would belong again. He had been to hell and back in more ways than one after several years of Vietnam.

Adam became their humble spiritual leader of sorts.

That first Christmas Eve, he'd led them in a prayer of thankfulness, which, considering the circumstances, seemed a bit odd at first to all of them. See, the issue was, each of them were homeless veterans. How can a homeless veteran be thankful for anything after losing so much?

Adam told them the Christmas story in a way they had never heard before. He reminded them that Mary gave birth without a place to stay. Joseph was searching for some place where her child could come into the world but ended up in nothing more than a place where animals were sheltered. In other words, Christ started out His first days on this earth without a place to call home.

Luke 2 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Adam then talked about the horror following the birth of Jesus with the Massacre of the Innocents and the way they had to leave to stay in Egypt until it was safe to return to their country.

Mary and Joseph would have been dealing with survivors guilt considering their child lived while so many others were slaughtered. They would have had to worry about where to sleep and how to find food. So many things about those first years of the life of Jesus were not mentioned in most sermons.

When Jesus traveled later in His life He depended on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter.

All of His hardships were suffered while knowing He would sacrifice His life in the end.

Christmas was supposed to be about giving, not getting. It was supposed to be about doing things unselfishly for the sake of others and not about what they needed or what they didn't have.

Adam reminded the other veterans that Christ had managed to forgive the hands that nailed Him to the cross and it was time for them to forgive anyone who did wrong to them as well. Above all, it was time for them to forgive themselves.

Amazingly enough, Adam had 12 tiny wrapped boxes to give out. When the boxes were unwrapped, they were empty. Adam stood up and walked over to each veteran. He placed his hand on their shoulder and asked what they wanted to be in the box.

The first one said he wished it was a key. A key to unlock memories so they could get out of his head and leave him alone.

The second one asked for the first one to have a key so that he could share the key with him afterwards.

As Adam walked around the circle, the same wish was asked for.

The gifts Christ gave to be unwrapped were to be unwrapped from the spirit.

None of them wanted to be rich. None of them wanted to go back in time to avoid going to Vietnam. None of them asked for anything other than to find peace.

Adam pulled a tiny bible out of his pocket that had been with him during his deployments. He made them a promise that night that he would fill their wishes by the following Christmas Eve if they didn't give up on each other and meet once a week.

Sure enough they did just that. They met the next year around the Christ tree. They prayed together and then Adam handed them boxes again. Again the boxes were empty and again Adam asked what they wanted to be inside the box.

The first one asked for a new pair of boots for his buddy in the circle. One by one each of them asked for something to be given to one of the others.

Adam asked if any of them found the key. They said they did the first night they met. The key to unlocking bad memories to fill them with good ones and look at their survival differently.

Life wasn't about how they came to be in this world as much as it was they were in this world. It wasn't about fitting in with people in general as much as it was about fitting in with people they shared a bond with much like the 12 who traveled with Christ. It didn't matter about stuff they didn't have or couldn't give as much as it was priceless what they did have to share.

The Christ tree still stands in the woods and each year different veterans come together and hear about that first Christmas Eve long after Adam passed away.

(Fiction so don't look for the tree but look instead for what you can do to heal. Then do it, get stronger so you can pass your key onto someone else.)

Santa Joins Soldiers in Prayer in Liberia

U.S. Troops Fighting Ebola Epidemic Focus on Progress over Holidays 
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Dec 24, 2014

Santa Claus and service members bow their heads in prayer during the Joint Forces Command – United Assistance holiday tree lighting event on Barclay Training Center in Monrovia, Liberia, Dec. 18, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Rashene Mincy

The troops have lit a Christmas tree, received a visit from Santa and even held a "Skype Hanukkah" this holiday season, but the focus for U.S. troops in Liberia during the holidays has been on maximizing the gains they've made against the deadly Ebola epidemic. "It's been a whole lot better of late," Army Lt. Col. David Bowlus, a chaplain with the 2,400 U.S. troops in Liberia, said by phone Tuesday from Monrovia, the Liberian capital.

About five new suspected cases of Ebola have been reported daily in recent weeks, Bowlus said, compared to more than 50 at the end of October. "We're at the point where Ebola is no longer hunting us, we're hunting it," said Bowlus, 43, of Pemberville, Ohio.

For Christmas Day, a Catholic chaplain will be going by helicopter to conduct services at outposts in Liberia for troops serving in Operation United Assistance, the mission led by the U.S. Agency for International Development to combat Ebola, Bowlus said.

Since all faiths are represented in the 101st Airborne Division and other units, the chaplains posted to Liberia have worked hard to accommodate all faiths. "We don't have a rabbi with us," Bowlus said. So they arranged a Hanukkah service via Skype for four Jewish soldiers with a rabbi in Missouri. read more here

Fort Bragg Reservist Gives Christmas Miracle to Vietnam Veteran

Facebook plea brings strangers to aid of Vietnam veteran near Fort Bragg
Fay Observer
By Amanda Dolasinski Staff writer
December 23, 2014

Staff photos by Abbi O'Leary

More than 50 soldiers and other volunteers turned out Sunday to help clear land and build a home for Vietnam War veteran Donald Lee, who had been living in an old camper without heat. 

CAMERON - Vietnam War veteran Donald Lee wobbled around with a cane as the sound of axes chopping wood and chain saws taking down trees echoed throughout his 5-acre property.

He occasionally stopped to pet one of his many rescue dogs or to hug one of the soldiers who arrived to join the others already at work.

"This is a Christmas miracle," he said, taking it all in. "In 40 some years, one thing about the military that hasn't changed, brothers and sisters take care of each other."

By 10 a.m. Sunday, more than 50 volunteers - mostly soldiers and strangers who had never met Lee - were sprawled across his property clearing trees and debris to build him a new home.

Lee left the Army in 1975. But the experiences he endured stuck with him and drove him to alcohol.

He shut the world out and found tranquility alone in the camper on his property.

He started to clean up his life in 1999 and has been sober since, he said.

He continued to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder until friend Amanda Pavone came into his life.

"She kicked me in the butt till I was ready to live again," he said. "I needed it."

Lee met Pavone, a soldier with a Reserve unit, a few months ago through a group that pairs soldiers dealing with PTSD. At first, Pavone was running to get groceries and dog food for Lee and his 12 rescue dogs.

She soon realized that he was living in a small camper off Page Store Road in Cameron that had no running water, heat or even a front door.
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Fort Lee Hardee's Lunch Angel is Chief Warrant Officer Jason Sibley

What this Iraq War veteran did at Hardee’s will melt your heart
CBS 6
BY WAYNE COVIL
DECEMBER 23, 2014

“I really didn’t feel as if I had done anything, that I believe most people would do,” Sibley said.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Sibley

FORT LEE, Va. — We now know the name of the mystery soldier whose act of kindness at a Petersburg Hardee’s went viral last week.

The tale began when a stranger sat and watched the Iraq War veteran buy lunch for a woman he met outside the restaurant on Tuesday.

As one of the people inside the restaurant was leaving, he asked to snap a picture of the soldier and the woman he bought lunch for.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Sibley, a husband, father of three with 16 years of service in the Army, said it all started when he left Fort Lee a quick lunch at a nearby Hardee’s.

“I was going to lunch at Hardee’s and as I came in, a lady approached me and asked if I would buy her a meal. And I said, ‘Yes,'” Sibley told CBS 6 News senior reporter Wayne Covil. “I asked her if she wanted to sit down, our meal would probably come together [and] if she wanted to have lunch together.”
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Thursday, December 18, 2014
Soldier Fed Hungry Woman and Sat with Her a While

Pat "Grandpa" Featherby, Iraq War veteran from Wichita passed away

Pat Featherby, Iraq War veteran from Wichita, dies at 44 
THE WICHITA EAGLE
BY FRED MANN
 12/23/2014

“All you have is each other. Without each other, we would not have made it. There is no question in my mind.”

Spc. Pat Featherby died Dec. 19 at age 44. TRAVIS HEYING FILE PHOTO

Pat Featherby was a bouncer and concert promoter in Wichita when he saw a report on television about American soldiers being ambushed and killed in Iraq. He decided to do something about that.

He signed up for duty with the Kansas Army National Guard at age 35, earning the nickname “Grampa” in basic training.

In the Guard’s 714th Security Force, Spc. Featherby reunited with a childhood buddy, Sgt. Jerry Young. They traveled together to Iraq, roomed together and rode in the same escort convoys in northern Iraq, Young leading the way in the scout vehicle.

Both suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries from roadside bombs.

They talked each other through the war, and after they returned home they talked each other through their lives as they dealt with severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and a host of other medical, financial and social issues.

Mr. Featherby died Dec. 19 of what his family said were service-related injuries. He was 44.
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