Soldier or Angel?
This is a really neat story. Don't know who
the author is....
In 1949, my father had just returned home from
the war. On every
American highway you could see soldiers in uniform
hitchhiking home to
their families, as was the custom at that time in
America. Sadly, the
thrill of his reunion with his family was soon
overshadowed. My
grandmother became very ill and had to be
hospitalized. It was her
kidneys, and the doctors told my father that
she needed a blood
transfusion immediately or she would not live
through the night.
The problem was that Grandmother's blood type
was AB negative, a very
rare type even today, but even harder to get
then because there were
no blood banks or air flights to ship blood.
All the family members were
typed, but not one member was a match. So
the doctors gave the family
no hope; my grandmother was dying. My
father left the hospital in tears
to gather up all the family members,
so that everyone would get a
chance to tell Grandmother
good-bye.
As my father was driving down the highway, he passed a
soldier in
uniform hitchhiking home to his family. Deep in grief, my
father had
no inclination at that moment to do a good deed. Yet it was
almost as
if something outside himself pulled him to a stop, and he
waited as the
stranger climbed into the car. My father was too upset to
even ask the
soldier his name, but the soldier noticed my father's
tears right away
and inquired about them.
Through his tears, my
father told this total stranger that his mother
was lying in a hospital
dying because the doctors had been unable to
locate her blood type, AB
negative, and if they did not locate her
blood type before nightfall,
she would surely die. It got very quiet
in the car. Then this
unidentified soldier extended his hand out to my
father, palm up.
Resting in the palm of his hand were the dogtags
from around his neck.
The blood type on the tags was AB negative. The
soldier told my father
to turn the car around and get him to the
hospital.
My
grandmother lived until 1996, 47 years later, and to this day no
one in
our family knows the soldier's name. But my father has often
wondered,
was he a soldier or an angel in uniform? Sometimes, we never
know who
God will bring into our lives to carry out a special mission
nor do we
know whose lives God will have us touch.
"And we know that the Son
of God is come, and has given us an
understanding, that we may know him
that is true, and we are in him
that is true, even in his Son Jesus
Christ. This is the true God, and
eternal life."--1 John
5:20
Mickie's Medley
