Boy’s Caught in a War of Words

The memories of war are fading, and he has forgotten much of his native language. Asked whether he wants to go home, Zia Ullah, the 6-year-old son of an Afghan guerrilla, says no. The boy, brought to the United States almost eight months ago by the Michigan chapter of Heal the Children for treatment of shrapnel wounds suffered in a bomb blast, was scheduled to go to a refugee camp in Pakistan last week. But the group kept him in the United States, saying it wants assurances that he will receive proper medical care and that his mother, who has not been located, will be found. The boy’s father was believed to have been killed. “He doesn’t even remember his language. His interpreter talks to him now and he’ll just say, ‘Huh?’ ” said Jenny DeWolf, a foster parent who, with her husband, Donald, cares for the boy at their Kalamazoo home. Zia now calls DeWolf “Mommy,” and of his father, she said: “He talks about his dad going to carry a gun and kill the Russians. Is that what he has to go back to, to learn how to carry a gun?”

--The groom took it in stride when his bride, greeting guests at the reception following their wedding, dashed off when a call came in that there was a fire near their hometown of Kandiyohi, Minn. Volunteer firefighter Jan Lee Schroeder, 32, shed her wedding dress, climbed into her gear and left with two of the guests, the fire chief and another firefighter. She returned an hour later--smudged with soot--but ready to cut the wedding cake with two miniature firefighters on top. Her groom, Warren Jorgenson, 38, expected nothing less from his bride--he is a firefighting instructor for the Minnesota State Board of Vocational and Technical Education.

--And where there’s a fire in Baylis, Ill., there’s almost sure to be a member of the Stephens family nearby. Robert Stephens is chief of the Baylis Volunteer Fire Department. His wife, Mary, has been with the department for two years. Their daughter, Mary Alice, 19, joined the roster a year ago, but has been going along on fires since she was 5. Her 15-year-old sister, Sue Ann, is too young to be an official member of the force, but that doesn’t stop her from pitching in. Then there’s Robert Stephens’ brother, Don, and his wife, Mary Ruth, who also answer calls, and their son Darrall, 12. Darrall “runs messages between his dad and my dad or whoever else is there, and helps drag hoses from the fire trucks,” Mary Alice said. “He’s been helpful to us a lot.”

--Mark Thatcher, 33, son of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and his Texas bride, the former Diane Burgdorf, 26, are honeymooning in Australia after their London wedding.