“When I first heard that he would be deploying out, I am pretty sure that I was in denial,” Michelle remembers. “I went from being mad at the Army, to being mad at the state of affairs in the Middle East, to even being mad at my husband. The bottom line of acceptance came when I realized that I had signed up for this the day I said, ‘I do,’ and that my husband was about to go do one of the bravest, most selfless things that one human being can do for another—risk one’s own life to ensure the rights of another.”
                On August 4, 2006, the young Arcadia family joined other Arizona citizens to watch their loved ones board buses to begin an unknown passage to an unfamiliar far off and dangerous place. With her heart breaking, Michelle held the hand of their little girl and wondered what this experience would do to her young daughter. “I would not have survived that day and the tough journey since then without the love and support of my family, especially my mom, and the community of families at my daughter’s preschool, and at my parish, St. Thomas the Apostle,” says Michelle.
                Darryl arrived in Iraq on October 23, 2006 to serve in whatever capacity where he was needed. “I had many jobs, but I guess I can sum them up as Route and Convoy security. We provided security escort for Department of Defense, civilian and military, through some of the most dangerous areas throughout Iraq.”
                Home in Arcadia, Michelle counted the days until his return. “I remember on some of his longer missions when they would be out on the road for eight to ten days, and I would pray for the next phone call to be from him saying that he was okay and that he had returned to base safely. There were moments when I would see something on the news and was trying to explain to our daughter why all of her friends had their daddies around and she didn’t.”
                As soon as Darryl had left for Iraq, Michelle went out and purchased 465 decorative stones to represent the number of days his deployment was set to last. “I bought a huge vase that I taped his photo to the inside. Every day since he left, Olivia and I would wake up, say a prayer for him, and put a stone into the jar.”
                In the meantime, this young Arcadia father was experiencing what most of us simply see snatches of on television. The worst part of his tour, says Darryl was seeing so much death and feeling the dreadful anticipation of being hit by a road side bomb. Still, he says, there were some good memories of his time far from home, as he visited such historical sites such as the Abraham house in southern Iraq, and walking through the oldest place of worship in the world in Mosul, Iraq. Being an Arizona resident helped Darryl adjust to the 130-plus degree days over there, perhaps a little easier than many of his fellow soldiers. “Believe it or not,” says Darryl, “The weather was not all that different from Arizona. It was a very easy transition.”
                While her father was away, one of the mothers at Olivia’s preschool, Ingrid Heard, took it upon herself to gather help from the class to create a plaque for Darryl and his unit. Heard painted the front  with a message of encouragement on it and then had all of Olivia’s classmates and their teachers press their painted thumbprints onto the plaque. The group then presented it to Michelle on Mother’s Day. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the room,” remembers Michelle. The classmates’ families then paid to have the plaque shipped to Balad, Iraq where Darryl proudly displayed it in his assigned area for the duration of his stay there. “In return, my husband took an American flag and flew it from his armored vehicle while on one of his missions and then had a plaque made up for the school stating that the flag had been flown in combat.” Darryl then had the flag signed by his commanding officers with the intent to have this very special flag flown at his daughter’s school campus.
                Michelle received the flag over the summer and presented it to the school when the new term started. Since the school did not have a flag pole, Michelle was going to have the flag framed to be placed in the office. “Before we knew it,” says Michelle, “one of the families at the school donated the funds to have a flagpole erected so that this flag could be flown in the manner that my husband had dreamed of.”
                Darryl, Michelle and Olivia Hawkins were able to realize their dream of his safe return on October 27, 2007 finally ending the family’s long separation. That same week, when he brought his daughter to school, Olivia’s fellow students held a surprise celebration to cheer Darryl’s homecoming and the long awaited reunion of this Arcadia family. “It’s wonderful to not have to be waiting and wondering anymore,” Michelle says happily.

E-mail Tracy at: tracywerth@cox.net

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