A Father and Son Separated by Divorce Finally Reunite–in Iraq

The father and son in the article below were separated by divorce when the boy, now 20, was only a toddler.

Father and son serving in Iraq reunite in Baghdad
Associated Press, 5/28/07

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Amid the sounds of mortar and machine-gun fire, a father and son both serving in Iraq were reunited in Baghdad after spending more than a decade apart.

Army Master Sgt. William McGraw and his son, Pfc. Logan McGraw, 21, met last week at Baghdad’s Camp Victory in a two-day reunion arranged by the military, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

“Logan, I am your father,” were William McGraw’s first words.

The two last saw each other when Logan McGraw was 8 years old. They met only once before that, more than seven years earlier as his parents were getting divorced. As a child, he moved around with his mother, a Kentucky-based sergeant.

“I have a chance to finally know my son. I’m excited about starting over again,” said William McGraw, 45. “But reality sets in; we know this is a war zone and there are soldiers missing and people dying.”

In Baghdad, they embraced and bantered about sports and family life, including the younger McGraw’s 2-year-old son Douyniall.

“It took a little bit longer than I hoped for,” Logan McGraw said of the reunion. “But at the end, it came down to having a relationship later down the road and finally being able to communicate with each other.”

Logan McGraw’s unit was set to return to Taji, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Baghdad. He was deployed in April. William McGraw had been in Iraq for 24 months and was scheduled to redeploy to Atlanta this week.

Just after Logan McGraw enlisted, he searched for his father’s name on the Internet and called every possible listing.

Three years ago, he was able to connect with his father, and the pair traded e-mails and phone calls before last week’s reunion.

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