Written By Sherwood Kohn
Master Sgt. William Yohn is home with his family in Manchester for Armed Forces Day (May 20) this year. He wasn’t last year, and it was difficult for his 5-year-old son, Isaac to understand.
About the time Bill was assigned to a medical supply unit about 40 miles south of Mosul, in Iraq, Isaac and his mother, Debbie, made up a rhyme that became a kind of mantra for the child:
“Star light, star bright,
Keep my daddy safe tonight,
My daddy is in Iraq.
Please hurry and bring him back.”
“When Bill was deployed,” Debbie said, “I went looking for something to explain the event to Isaac.” Mother and son decided that they would make a book that would serve at least two functions: It would strengthen the bond between father and son and it would help Isaac understand what was happening to Bill.
Debbie, who is a nurse at Baltimore’s R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, had already helped organize the Positive Alternatives to Dangerous and Destructive Decisions (PADDD) program and co-authored a brochure explaining its goals: preventing impaired and unsafe driving.
Now, she sat down with Isaac to compose another booklet; this time a narrative beginning with Sgt. Yohn’s departure from Fort Meade, progressing through a mutual appreciation of the same starry sky, even though they are thousands of miles apart, and ending with Isaac’s rhyme. They created the 20-page book in one night.
“It really comforted Isaac,” said Debbie. “He called it his magic book.”
He carried it everywhere. When Debbie took him along to speak before groups on behalf of PADDD, Isaac showed his magic book and told everyone about its powers. People began asking for copies.
It occurred to Debbie that such a book might help other families. Friends Carol L. Haines and her family painted illustrations. Debbie showed it at support groups for military wives, and was encouraged to make copies of it. Isaac began acting as a kind of spokesman.
“I have a magic book,” he told an American Legion group “and we’re helping families.”
At first Debbie tried photocopying the booklet. It proved too limiting. The printer for the PADDD brochure, Matthew Dell, of Advanced Office Solutions in Westminster, donated reproductions and Noticed Advertising & Design put the full-color publication together. Eventually, the Community Foundation of Carroll County took over sponsorship and now sells the publication for $10. All proceeds going to the foundation, which offers a wide range of community services.
Debbie sent Bill a couple of copies. It gave him a warm feeling; a connection with his son back home.
“I felt good. If it could better explain things,” he said; “if it comforted Isaac, that was fine with me.”
Sgt. Yohn returned home safely last December after a year overseas, living proof that his son’s “Keep my Daddy Safe” brochure was indeed a magic book.
— S.D.K.
