WESTMINSTER, Md., Dec. 24 (UPI) -- What began as a dad's desire to send some holiday cheer to his daughter in Iraq snowballed into a Christmas tree operation for U.S. troops in two war zones.
Jim Ward wanted to ship a tree to Army Spec. Luisa Gonzalez, deployed two months ago to a base north of Baghdad, the Washington Post said Sunday. Finding a shippable tree was a problem, but after considering alternatives, Ward found one: "Charlie Browns."
Charlie Browns, 2-foot trees named after the Christmas cartoon special in which one was featured, were inexpensive and small enough to be shipped inside a box.
But the Westminster, Md., man said he was bothered that "my daughter was going to get one and other people weren't," so one tree became 75.
"Your kindness provided a piece of home to our young men and women who could not be with their families," Capt. Bryan Hunsaker, Gonzalez's company commander, wrote in a thank-you note.
Gonzalez, incidentally, was randomly assigned a two-week leave that included Dec. 25.
Ward now has a Web site, Operation Christmas Tree, to raise funds to send trees to all U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007.
