Touched by History : Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait has jolted families, jobs and hopes. : LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE : California Reunion Bittersweet Without Man Left Behind in Iraq

When Dawn Bazner and her children finally flew out of Iraq and arrived in Washington last Sunday, one of her first chores was to take 6-year-old Elizabeth shopping. They had left with only the clothes they were wearing, and the growing girl needed new shoes.

Dawn, Elizabeth and 6-month-old David have since visited relatives in Southern California, a sojourn that provided only a measure of relief for relatives here because Dawn’s husband, Kevin, remains behind as a hostage.

“It’s not over for us,” said Jan Chandler, Kevin Bazner’s sister. “It’s not like the whole family came back.”

His parents, Ed and Virginia Bazner, live in Palm Desert; sister Jan in La Canada Flintridge; brothers Edward in Burbank and Christopher in La Jolla.

The family has been on an emotional roller coaster since Kevin, Dawn and their children were detained along with all the other passengers of an airliner that had landed in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion Aug. 2. The family was on the way home to Malaysia, where Kevin works for an international restaurant chain.

After two weeks of being held as Saddam Hussein’s “guests” at a Baghdad hotel, it appeared that the Bazners might be freed when ABC correspondent Ted Koppel confronted Iraqi officials on live television about the need for medical care for their infant son, who has a hernia. (David’s condition is not acute, and immediate treatment is not required, relatives say.)

Not until last Sunday, however, when Iraq released scores of foreign women and children, were Dawn and the children able to get out. Chandler said that, according to her sister-in-law, the family “was never mistreated . . . always had food and things they needed.” But concern for her husband’s safety has left Dawn, a British citizen, reluctant to speak of the ordeal.

The family, Chandler said, no longer knows where Kevin is. Throughout his captivity, the family has never been able to talk to him by phone. Now, Chandler says, Dawn and other family members frequently write letters in hopes of learning more.

“We’re sending stuff,” Chandler said. “We’re not getting anything back.”

Seeing Dawn and the children on their visit with the Chandlers--”to hug them, to touch them”--has momentarily eased the emotional strain for the family, Chandler said.

“The baby,” she added, “looks so much like Kevin.”