It doesn't take many
words to describe what's going on here. That said, the
reaction from kids all over the region is priceless. It's a
heartwarming story about William, his Marine buddies and Jake
the puppy.
From God's hands into the protective arms of a good Marine!
Just a line in an
e-mail as
messages from Iraq are few and far between from Falluga, Iraq.
"Hi mom. I love ya and I miss you lots. Here are some
pictures of me and my buddies. I am sure you can guess where
we are. We found this puppy when we were going house to house
in a raid. We call him Jake. We are feeding him MRE's and
you know, when your hungry you will eat just about anything.
HA. It helps morale having the little guy around. So the LT.
it letting us keep him for now, as long as he does not get in
the way. Mom, please send more Starbucks green tea, bug
spray, tuna, socks badly, vitamins, power bars, sun tan
lotion. I will try to call soon. Love Will"
Will got a chance
to call home for Mother's Day early in the morning. His little
brother asked him to bring Jake with him when he returns home.
This proud Marine was pleased to know about the events unfolding
here and the local kid's interest in Jake.
From Vicki Maybrey a teacher at Howe
Elementary, Sacramento California
I
was browsing through the Patriotwatch website and the Marine
Moms section. We were trying to get an idea of how to present
the quilt project to another group of people I knew would be
interested.
When I came across William's picture and the puppy (the
thumbnail image)
I enlarged it to see it better. One of the Kindergarten
kids in my classroom was looking over my shoulder (they do this
a lot when I am on the computer) and asked me about the puppy.
As it turns out, that was the same evening that I was at the
Patriotwatch Bunker planning for the Military Families Day.
I got a chance to speak with Deborah Johns, William's mom.
I asked about the puppy. She said his name is Jake and the
boys had found him lost and scared in Iraq. He's now being fed K
rations and being taken care of. The concern of the kids was
whether he had a collar, tags, food and toys.
They
want to send Jake a care package and thank the Marines for
saving him.
This is now a school wide project.
CARE PACKAGES
for JAKE
Yes... you can all pitch in!
The kids from Howe Elementary, family members and teachers will
be on hand May 22nd to collect the goodies for Jake. Those items
that may have to be put on hold should there be military
guidelines for such things, may still be useful if the next
mission succeeds.
Jake, William and his
Marine pals in Iraq has lots of friends from the Howe
Avenue Children's Center:
BRINGING JAKE
TO AMERICA!
No doubt the challenges to the
Johns' family and their desire to give Jake a new home here in
California will be fraught with red tape instead of yellow
ribbon. Watch for updates as this effort moves forward.
with your suggestions or to volunteer.
