Yearning to Be Whole Again

"Mommy, I wanted to call you, too," her daughter announced.

Nishimura assured them that they would be together soon.

Some days, she wondered how.

For airline tickets, she had pinned her hopes on the well-known charitable program Operation Hero Miles, which donates airline miles to U.S. service members.

It was only in late November that she learned the program was geared to hospitalized troops and their families. She and her children did not qualify.

Nishimura then took heart when fellow guardsmen offered to donate miles to her -- only to learn that airlines would not allow such mileage transfers.

At 29 years old, she had no credit cards, she said, having badly damaged her credit in the financial turmoil of her divorce. While in Iraq, she sent her earnings to her mother for her children's care.

"I'm pretty discouraged," she admitted one afternoon four weeks after she flew home.

The Grace of Others

Help came in unexpected bits. There were groceries delivered by the pastor and elder of the church across the street. There was a bed for her daughter donated by her new boss. There were clothes and food and other help from volunteers Mary and Paul Crawford.

Much of this happened because Nishimura was "adopted" by First Christian Church of Havre de Grace through a National Guard program, Partners in Care, which links needy soldiers with congregations.

Then one of her senior officers, Maj. Timothy Mullen, wrote letters on her behalf, which inspired contributions for the plane tickets from three chapters of the 29th Division Association, a veterans group, and four churches.

Twelve days before Christmas, it all came together: The children and their grandmother would board Christmas Day flights, which were least expensive, at a total cost of less than $1,500, covered largely by the generosity of strangers.