Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Holiday in Iraq

Melynda Knowles is thinking of her husband, continents apart

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 12/9/2009 12:10:10 PM

Holiday in Iraq
Melynda Knowles and her children share a hug around a Christmas tree bound for Knowles' husband, Chad, and a group of Oregon National Guardsmen serving in Iraq.

It took a single phone call to set things in motion.

And with help from a growing number of local residents, 128 Oregon National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq now will enjoy Christmas in the desert this year alongside a touch of home.

A stirring Civil War battle on the gridiron last Thursday between Oregon and Oregon State gave the soldiers of A Troop, 1/82nd Cavalry of the Oregon National Guard’s 41st Brigade Combat Team, plenty to cheer about. But it’s likely that a behind-the-scenes effort by Troop A’s commanding officer, Captain Chad Knowles, of Wilsonville, will end up being remembered just as fondly in the long run, if not more so.

“He (Chad) said to his First Sergeant a couple of months ago that he really wanted to have a live Christmas tree for his troops,” Knowles’ wife, Melynda, said last week. “His guys, they’re all from Oregon, so a live tree is a really big deal. He knew that the holidays are a tough time to be away from their families, so if they could have a live tree, smell it, breathe it in, he thought it would help.”

The Knowles family knows all about overseas deployments.

Chad, 38, spent 18 months in Iraq in 2004-05 with the Oregon Guard. He shipped out again in July with over 3,500 other Oregon Guard members for another year-long tour of Iraq. Instead of patrolling roads in search of improvised bombs and insurgents, Chad is now in charge of base security at a sprawling permanent U.S. base outside of Baghdad.

“Knowing he’s not out there in the line of fire, I’m a lot more relaxed I guess,” Melynda said. “It’s a different feeling; he’s still gone, but you know he’s relatively safe.”

Nonetheless, the kids feel the absence of their father just as keenly as Melynda.

“Really it’s a big void in her life with him being gone,” Melynda said of her youngest daughter. “Every day for several months she wouud just cry for him. They love their daddy.”

Fortunately, those around her are well aware of the strain.

“I don’t think they realize the emotional toll it takes on them, without having their fathers around,” said Debbie Burright, just one of many volunteers who has helped the tree project get off the ground.

As Melynda pondered Chad’s request, she realized the idea was sound. But the reality of shipping 150-pounds worth of live tree over 8,000 miles around the globe to Iraq remained daunting.

In October, Chad went ahead and called colleagues at High Impact Technologies, a small firm in Tualatin that makes self-sealing skin for fuel tanks and other products with both military and commercial applications.

High Impact office manager Kate Al-Sheikhly got the message and took little time in obtaining a promise of two live trees, a spruce and a pine, both balled and wrapped in burlap.

At the same time, his First Sgt., Lewis Franklin, contacted the Clackamas County Christmas Tree Marketing Association, which secured a donated Noble fir through the Corbett-based Trout Creek Tree Farm.

As it turns out, Melynda said, the former group already was looking to send a tree to a local soldier or group of soldiers deployed overseas.

“That’s actually one of the things that they do,” she said.

The trees were sent via FedEx – which agreed to waive shipping fees – on Tuesday of last week, but that was only the beginning. They also needed decorating.

Chad had that covered too. Along with a request for a Christmas tree, he asked that photos of each soldier’s family be included for that purpose.

There also are plans for Christmas on base, including a white elephant gift exchange, stockings with cigars and a special dinner for the occasion, complete with a fireplace.

On top of that, See’s Candy of Lake Oswego sent along hundreds of dollars worth of candy, while Chad’s mother and a group of friends are busy finishing 128 pillowcases which will be stuffed full of food, gifts and necessities such as baby wipes.

“He just wanted to get them as close to home as possible,” Melynda said. “I ask him all the time when we talk if he needs anything, and he has never asked me for anything. All  he asked for was a tree and pictures of every soldier’s family on the tree. That’s a true  leader who thinks about his guys like that. I love that about him.”

Last week, all remaining loose ends were tied up; Melynda and her kids went to pick out and cut down a Noble fir, with decorating coming afterward.

“We went on Monday (Nov. 30) and cut a tree,” Melynda said. “We picked out a tree, we had our arms around the tree, with my baby, my 13-year-old daughter in back, and she was holding her brother’s hand. We were giving that tree a hug. I’ve never been jealous of a Christmas tree before, but you know what, knowing it was going to be there in Iraq later in the week, I got a little bit choked up.
“I’m really grateful for everybody involved.”

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