Solace Found in Slain Soldier's Newborn

Solace Found in Slain Soldier's Newborn

Sunday February 11, 2007 8:01 AM
AP Photo SCAM103, SCAM102, SCAM101
By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - For weeks, Chief Warrant Officer Jason DeFrenn's family awaited his homecoming, a trip planned as much more than a simple respite from his second tour in Iraq: The nine-year Army veteran was returning to South Carolina to help his wife give birth. Instead, his loved ones are making plans for the 34-year-old Army pilot's funeral.

DeFrenn's Apache helicopter was shot down on Feb. 2 - two weeks before he was supposed to be back in his native state. Wracked by grief, his wife went into labor early, giving birth to a boy just days after her husband's death.

It's newborn Christopher who's now providing the family a measure of solace. ``A healing child,'' is how Jason DeFrenn's father explains it as he alternately gazes at a photo of the son he lost, and at a card stamped with the footprints of his new grandson.

``It's a wonderful thing that's happened here in the last couple of days, in a way,'' said Garth DeFrenn. ``But it's going to be a tough month.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6408497,00.html

How sad is this? A newborn will only know his Dad, through pictures and stories. :cry:

This is just heart-wrenching.

Wracked by grief, his wife went into labor early, giving birth to a boy just days after her husband's death.