Daughters of Marine Know They're Racing for Dad

Arrayed along the rear wall of a house on Patuxent River Naval Air Station were the sundry parts along with the red and blue shells of two soapbox derby racers awaiting assembly. Two neighbors tasked with fashioning the cars from their IKEA-like prefab kits fastened screws and puzzled over the 20-page instruction manual.

The two young girls who would eventually race them, however, were inside on this Saturday afternoon in late May. They were in the living room with friends watching the movie "Holes" on the Disney Channel and munching on cereal.

As other children in the on-base neighborhood flitted or peeked through the front door, seeking companions or a drink of water, Faith Provencal called her daughters Samantha, 8, and Savanna, 11, away from the television and asked the other children if they could return later. She wanted the two girls to describe for a visitor something they usually try not to think about: what it's like having their father off fighting a war in Iraq -- far away from home, and them.

On this Father's Day, Marine Gunnery Sgt. David Provencal is stationed at an airbase west of Baghdad. He is assigned there as a parachute rigger and to work on flight equipment.

Provencal has been in Iraq since the end of January, but he has been away from his family since October, when he was transferred from Patuxent River to a base in Jacksonville, N.C., to prepare for deployment. His wife and daughters visited North Carolina, spending the last night with him before he shipped out on Jan. 27.

"It was hard knowing Daddy couldn't be here for my birthday," said Samantha, who turned 8 on Feb. 2.

The two sisters have different ways of dealing with their father's absence. Samantha is more comfortable talking about her dad. But when the Cedar Point Federal Credit Union and the Navy's command master chief on the base were looking for the child of a deployed serviceman to race the "Support the Troops" car in the soapbox derby, the girls and their mother agreed it was the thing to do.

They were recruited by Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Cameron W. Bracewell, their neighbor at Pax River. Faith Provencal was eager to sign up Samantha and Savanna for the derby -- provided Bracewell and others behind the project would put the car together.

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Bracewell and Marine Gunnery Sgt. Bill Horan spent five hours over two days in May assembling the soapbox racers -- the sponsors added a second car after both girls got involved.

The race organizers ask that the racers contribute "as much as they can" to the construction of the cars, but for the younger competitors, it's more of a polite suggestion -- it's not quite a science project.