Justin Rozier was just a few months old when his father, recent Texas A&M grad, 25 year old Army Lt. Jonathan Rozier left to his deployment in Iraq.
His platoon was at a traffic control point near a POW prison, when they let a pickup truck with a dead body pass. The dead body was in-fact alive, and as soon as they passed, he got up and fired a RPG Launcher. Whilst the members of his platoon jumped out of the way, Jonathan actually jumped in front of the rocket propelled grenade and was killed instantly.
He was the only one to die. (KIA 07/19/2003)
His funeral services included then Gov. Rick Perry, three Generals and reps from the Bush administration.
And of course his heartbroken widow Jessica and nine month old son.
Justin never knew his father, and treasures anything that belonged to him.
To link them together.
As Justin was nearing driving age, he mentioned to Jessica how cool it would be to have a car that was his dads. And left it at that.
But Jessica couldn’t stop thinking about it.
In 2001, the young couple bought their first car together, a 1999 Toyota Celica Convertible. After his death, she had to have money for daycare, and returned it back to Toyota, and hadn’t thought about it since.
Until now.
She went on Facebook with the story and VIN number to see if she could find it. Which included "I know that he wishes his dad was here... I feel like this is something that would connect him.”
Within just a few days, the daughter of the current owner contacted her and gave her her dad’s phone number.
Jorge Cruz from Pleasant Grove, Utah, had just bought the car...and within an hour of hearing about the post from his daughter he was contacted by two members of the Pleasant Grove City Council and two local police officers who also saw the posting, and persuaded the man to sell it back to Jessica.
Not that he really needed persuading.
He called her and his first words after his introduction was “I think that your son will get more enjoyment out of having his dad’s car than I would."
Says Jessica, “When I got that message, I started crying because I couldn’t believe we found it and it was so quick.”
But she had few funds to buy the car and restore it.
And that’s when Kyle Fox got involved.
Kyle is the owner of Foxbuilt Furniture and is the founder of the non profit, Follow the Flag, who created a GoFundMe request to, among other things…
The funds we raise will do the following:
1. Purchase a fallen soldier's car for his son.
2. Get that baby tuned up, detailed and driveable.
3. Transportation from Utah to Texas.
4. Big red bow.
5. Gas money.
6. A priceless surprise!
7. All donations leftover will be given to the Johns family.
They bought the car from Jorge and eight local businesses readily donated time and parts to refurbish the car to showroom condition.
One such business included BYU Upholstery and a very special employee.
From The Daily Universe…
After they were contacted about the project several weeks ago, BYU upholstery shop employee Will Graham took on the bulk of the project, staying after hours and even using vacation time to avoid any conflict of interest.
He put an estimated 32 hours of unpaid time into re-upholstering the car’s seats. In honor of Jonathan Rozier, the seats now include a splash of red, white and blue, and embroidery company Westpro put American flags on the backs of the head rests.
Graham, who has worked in the shop for 15 years, is a father of eight and said he knows how important fathers are — that’s why he wanted to give back to someone who hasn’t had his father.
“It just seemed like something I could do with the talents and skills that I have to bless someone’s life,” Graham said.
Jessica wanted to present this to her son at his 16th birthday. But it would be ready for him by his 15th.
So Kyle, his best friend and their two sons drove the car the 1,300 miles to Texas….and this was the result of the love and caring and compassion from so many strangers all those miles away….
In the year since this bit of magic, Justin learned how to drive the stick shift his father learned on.
And soon is planning a cross-country drive….to visit members of his fathers platoon.
Who will tell him stories of his father.
And welcome the young man as a brother.
I first saw this video with a friend and her three year old daughter, who immediately and assuredly announced to us that the butterfly was Jonathan coming back to thank Kyle.
Indeed.
I feel compelled to repeat the last sentence of Steve Hartman’s story...to reiterate something that i read about and see every single day, and that it bares repeating and believing.
“…..all with the help of a country so grateful and kind...you can’t imagine.”
Imagine.