Soldier inspired by cards from students at his former Catholic school

Published: 2004-05-03

OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) -- When a U.S. soldier fighting in Iraq received some of the Christmas cards sent to troops at random by students attending his former Catholic grade school, he didn't think it was mere coincidence. 1st Sgt. Charles LaMalfa likes to think it was a miracle. Last Christmas Eve, he sat alone in Mosul, Iraq, away from his wife and two children. He was upset, frustrated and "brittle," he told The Catholic Voice, newspaper of the Omaha Archdiocese. All that changed, though, when he noticed the return address on some of the Christmas cards he had received: St. Pius X-St. Leo School in Omaha -- his alma mater and the school his children attended. "How they ended up in my hand, I'll never know," said LaMalfa, who graduated from the school in 1964. "I think it's one of those miracles that God provides in our time of need." LaMalfa returned to Omaha this spring and visited his former school April 20 to show his appreciation to the second- and third-grade students whose cards had lifted his spirits.

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