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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-, 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 tested, 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 goodbye.
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-,
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 dog tags from around
his neck. The blood type on the tags was AB-. 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.
.....Author Unknown
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