http://www.omaha.com/article/20091225/NEWS01/712259930Published Friday December 25, 2009
By Matthew Hansen
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The toddler at the center of this story sprints through his grandparents' south Omaha living room. He pounces on his older brother, demands a horsey ride, and squeals with delight.
He appears in front of the Christmas tree and stares wide-eyed at the twinkling lights. You can see his brain working, turning, wondering. What will happen if I stick this silver tinsel in my mouth?
“Bailey!” his mother yells, and he scampers away, a naughty grin plastered across his face.
This toddler doesn't yet know he's tethered to a man he never met, a Bellevue firefighter and Nebraska National Guardsman who grinned his way through most of a deployment to Iraq.
Snip: The following day, Dee Bailey heard a knock on her door, saw two soldiers standing outside, and knew.
That same day, a frantic, pregnant Jennifer Cooper received a call, and she knew, too.
“I'm OK,” Craig Cooper told her from his hospital bed. “But one of my friends is dead.”
FULL story and photo at link.