AFTERMATH OF WAR: The International Front : Seeing Is Believing

Pfc. Clayton Carpenter, whose Kansas family got the devastating news that he had been killed in action in Iraq only to find the next day that it was ALL A BIG MIX-UP, WAS REUNITED WITH FAMILY MEMBERS at a Denver military hospital. His mother, Ruth Dillow, had thought it was a cruel hoax when he called to tell her of the mistake, and now she was apologetic. “Sorry I gave you such a hard time on the phone,� she said. At the boisterous, media-packed reunion, Carpenter’s two biggest fears came true. He shed a few tears, and someone accidentally stepped on his wounded foot.