The American Red Cross, founded in 1881 by nurse Clara Barton, delivers resources, support and relief during crises and emergencies. For military families experiencing crisis, the organization is critical in quickly sending verified information to service members and their chain of command. According to its website, the Red Cross processes “over 1,300 emergency communications and critical community services daily” in service to the military.
And sometimes it even delivers miracles.
Coming home
Private First Class (PFC) Patrick Konczal spent his first Christmas in the Army overseas. This is certainly not an uncommon occurrence in the military, but as his second holiday season in South Korea approached, his father suffered a heart attack and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. His leadership decided the model soldier had earned a holiday miracle. So they reached out to the American Red Cross.
For more than a decade, the American Red Cross has brought a service member home from overseas every year to reunite with their family for the holidays.
“This is part of the Red Cross mission to support the military community and give them care that strengthens their mental and emotional and social well being,” said Abby Walker, content marketing specialist for the American Red Cross, who served as the lead for the project this year.
Nominations are submitted from military installations around the world, and the Red Cross teams at those installations comb through the nominations, ultimately choosing one person to bring home. They were moved by Konczal’s story and the praise he received from his leadership.
“As a young Soldier, PFC Konczal has shown great initiative and potential for increased levels of responsibilities beyond his time in service,” wrote SSG Yurou Sun, Konczal’s NCO in his role as a CBRN Specialist at Camp Casey. “He is attentive, passionate, empathetic, with a strong work ethic.”
Family reunion
The American Red Cross organized an announcement with his command present at morning formation. Konczal was unaware he had even been nominated and was taken entirely by surprise. His parents, Mike and Trish, were also caught entirely off guard when he arrived home in Fairfax, Virginia. The Red Cross had coordinated with his sister Morgan to bring them to a holiday card signing event, not knowing their son was in the same building.
“We had local volunteers there in our Red Cross office,” said Walker. “We had holiday music and a Christmas tree, and we had it all set up. And then he was there as well.”
“My heart was beating like crazy,” said Morgan. “I don’t even know how to describe the excitement seeing him, it didn’t feel real.”
Konczal felt the same, especially when seeing his mother. “It’s hard to keep it together really. Your mother always worries about you the most.”
Morgan expressed similar sentiments about their father’s reaction. “I haven’t seen my dad cry in years. So, to see him break down and be happy, it brought me to tears.”
‘It means everything’
After many years of donating blood and platelets to the American Red Cross, Mike was impressed that they make these operations a part of their mission. “I’m not surprised, the Red Cross being the organization that it is, that it would do things like this, but we didn’t know they arranged these types of homecomings,” he said. “It’s just fantastic.”
Walker, herself a military spouse, thought of the mission to bring Konczal home as a passion project. “I know what it feels like to go through the holidays having a loved one halfway around the world,” she said. “So to be able to be a part of that, bringing a family together during the holidays, it was amazing to see. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.” She encourages military families to explore resources available to them on the Red Cross website.
As for Konczal, he intends to spend every minute he can with his close-knit family, appreciating the special opportunity they’ve been granted. “I’ll never be able to repay this debt,” he said. “It means everything to me.”
