First Lt. Jeff Morgan of Douglasville, civil
affairs officer
for Company C., 121st Infantry holds 'Baby Noor'
(photo courtesy Atlanta Journal Constitution
Amidst the many headlines of war has come a
story that has touched the hearts of many as a three month old Iraqi
infant has been rescued from certain death by the concern and compassion
of Georgia Guardsmen serving in war-torn Iraq.
Known as “Baby Noor”, the Iraqi child was
discovered by members of Charlie Company, 121st
Infantry during a raid near Abu Ghraib in search for insurgents. The
child was born with spina bifida, a debilitating condition that if not
treated would have certainly have killed the child within weeks. Baby
Noor has survived the odds by living for almost three months.
Noor al-Zahra arrived in Atlanta on Saturday
through the assistance of the soldiers of Co C and a compassion
Methodist church congregation in Douglasville. Doctors at Atlanta’s
Scottish Rite Hospital have agreed to perform the delicate surgery at no
cost.
The incredible story of the child’s rescue, the
assistance of members of the 48th to seek needed care in the United
States for the child and the benevolence of skilled medical care
personnel paints a very different picture of the war on Terror in Iraq.
Tender Kiss:
SSG Darryl Clark, 40, Lula, Ga., full time guard, Charlie Company, 1st
Battalion, 121st Infantry, Lawrenceville, Ga., kisses baby Noor on the
forehead as he prepares to hand her back to her grandmother after
delivering baby formula to the family when their supply ran out at Camp
Liberty, Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. Noor fell asleep in
Clark's arms while he was feeding her a bottle of the baby formula.
"That's good stuff!", Clark said, refering to getting to hold and feed
Noor. "It makes you feel good inside knowking your doing something for a
sick child of the age", said the father of 6 children ages 4 to 18. "It
got me all teary eyed too" he said afterwards with tears welling up in
his eyes. "She was crying her head off when I got in there. She fell
asleep in my arms. If I hadn't got out of there when I did, I would have
been crying my head off". (AJC PHOTO BY CURTIS COMPTON) |
