Soldiers Save Woman and her Children

There is a wonderful story in the Washington Times (free registration required) yesterday, May 22, 2005. It is about an Iraqi woman who hid her children after terrorists grabbed her husband and killed him in front of his sons.

These Soldiers are from the North Dakota National Guard and they felt very badly, because they had built a friendship with this man and felt he died because of it. What they did after the incident, however, is amazing.

Sgt. 1st Class Shayne Beckert and a fellow guardsman, Capt. Grant Wilz, worked for months to bring the family to the United States, appealing for help and contacting Rep. Earl Pomeroy, North Dakota Democrat, who helped arrange the trip.

Mr. Pomeroy, who met the family earlier this month during a trip to Iraq, described them as "bright and strong and wonderful," and said their resourcefulness would help them adjust to life in the United States.

These are the men we have protecting us. They didn't have to help. They could have walked away. After all, she doesn't speak English, and they had received all the intelligence they were going to get from him, right? Wrong! They persisted when people said, "No." That didn't stop them. They wanted to honor a man who had risked his life to save them. They were not going to let him down, and they didn't. Good job, guys. God bless you.