Home for Christmas

Snow on Fort McCoy. Soldiers of the Oregon Guard’s 162nd Engineer Company in pre-deployment training, Afghanistan next.

Then the orders slipped past Christmas. The Army gave them leave. It did not give them plane tickets. Last-minute airfare across the country was out of reach for young soldiers on Guard pay.

Brig. Gen. Mike Caldwell asked the Oregon War Veterans Association for help. We needed about $40,000, and fast.

We went on radio and television. Oregonians gave $11,000 in days. As I told the Guard’s newspaper then, “Oregonians are very generous, no matter how they feel about the war.”

Then KATU joined us. Anna Song told the story on air, and the station’s telethon raised more than $60,000.

It covered every ticket: 105 soldiers of the 162nd, and 100 Washington National Guard troops deploying alongside them. Two hundred five soldiers home for Christmas, weeks before war.

More came in than the flights cost. We set the surplus aside for the next mission — disabled veterans bound for the Paralympic Games.

KATU nominated me, and the Royal Rosarians named me their 2009 Newsmaker of the Year, “honored for an act of heroism as reported by KATU Television.” A medal and a framed proclamation, presented at a public ceremony.