Dec 8, 2007 6:54 pm US/Central
Minn. Soldier Shares Story Of Saving Baby In Iraq
SHOREVIEW, Minn. (WCCO) ―
A soldier from Shoreview< Minn. is back home sharing his story of bullets, bloodshed and the innocent baby he helped save.
First Lieutenant Eric Laflin can tell stories of patrolling the streets of Iraq, being on the front lines and the dangers he faced every day.
He's lived through an explosion and received the Purple Heart for being shot.
"I went around the corner and took one to the shoulder," he said.
He received no award, just a good feeling, for something he's now known nationally for doing.
"Is this one situation a bright spot? Yea, it's a bright spot," said Laflin.
While on routine patrol last July, leading his 26-man platoon, a little boy ran up to his group with a message: His parents had been executed, he and his siblings were abandoned.
"Then there was a small baby," said Laflin. He remembers finding the little girl underneath a pile of scrap-metal.
"She wasn't crying at all. She was as calm as can be. She was in some ratty clothes, and when I first saw her, I thought she was a newborn baby, actually. I didn't know she was about nine month old. She was so small and malnourished. The baby was just, seemed like she was discarded. It was very horrific," he said.
Laflin and his fellow soldiers took Baby Fatima to the American Combat Outpost where they were stationed. Immediately, doctors and nurses gave the weak little girl love, attention and food she desperately needed.
They cared for her, and slowly, she gained weight. It was a far cry from how she was found, helpless, in 120 degree heat.
"And you see her now, right before you, and it's incredible the transformation she went through. And it's great to be part of it," said a staff member at an American hospital in Iraq.
Baby Fatima is now living with relatives in Iraq. Laflin is now back at home in Shoreview, Minn. for the holidays. He's still thinking about the day his life changed.
"It was very eye-opening. I had never seen anything like it before," he said. "I just hope we'll be remembered as doing something good over there."
After the holidays, Laflin will go back to Germany where he's based. He doesn't know if he'll go back to Iraq.
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