On February, 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. It stated that her son, Clayton Carpenter, Private 1st Class, had stepped on a mine in Kuwait and was dead.

Ruth Dillow later wrote, “I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I wept. For 3 days I expressed anger and loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great.” Every parent here can relate to her grief. But 3 days after Ruth Dillow received that message, the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, “Mom, it’s me. I’m alive.”

Ruth Dillow said, “I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice.” Ruth’s son was alive. The earlier message she had received was a …