Texas resident Justin Rozier was only 9-months-old when his father Jonathan Rozier died while serving overseas.
Johnathan had been serving as a First Lieutenant when he was killed in Iraq war. Only twelve hours before his death, he had been talking to his wife Jessica, receiving updates on the baby boy he had only briefly met.
The man’s death was obviously hard on Justin’s mother, Jessica Johns. Her husband had faced an untimely death while their son was less than one-year-old. Now that Johnathan had passed, she would have to raise Justin on her own.
As can be imagined, at one point, the family’s financial situation grew tight. Jessica strenuously balanced her budget, but there was only one real way to reduce their costs— she would have to sell her late husband’s beloved 1999 Toyota Celica convertible.
No one was driving the car, and they really couldn’t afford the loan. When Jessica finally made the decision to sell the car, though, she never expected it would find its way back…
Years later, as Justin was approaching his fifteenth birthday, Jessica randomly came across his father’s old registration for the car. Seeing the old memento brought back memories, and she came up with a crazy idea.
What if she could manage to track the Toyota Celica down? Maybe she could buy it for her teenage son’s sixteenth birthday in honor of his Dad.
“I wondered if this car is still out there,” Jessica told NBC News.
“I was thinking would go on a years-long search to find this car.”
The more the idea circulated in Jessica’s mind, the more she realized that, if she could pull it off, it would be the ultimate surprise. Not knowing where to begin her hunt, she turned to social media for help.
In a Facebook post, Jessica issued a plea: “Can someone please help me find this car? It’s a 1999 Toyota Celica.
“It was Jon’s car (1LT Jonathan Rozier, KIA Iraq 7-19-03) and when he died, I wasn’t thinking ahead to when Justin (his son) would be driving 15 years later.”
“If you facebookers could work your magic and help me find it, it would be an amazing present for his 16rh birthday if it hasn’t become a tin can by now.”
From there, Jessica’s post started to spread, and online sleuths began the hunt.
Commenters were rife with suggestions and possible leads on how to locate the car.
“Was it registered in Texas?” a relative asked her. Upon Jessica’s confirmation, another man writes, “I will check my VIN system to out to see who may be the current owner,” He later returns with some unfortunate news: “Not registered in Texas.”
Another user, obtaining information from the CarFax app, discovered the last registration for the vehicle was at the DMV in Pleasant Grove, Utah— which vastly narrowed down the search.
As Jessica continued posting and sharing in groups, she miraculously came across the Toyota Celica owner’s daughter.
The woman wasn’t sure if her father would be willing to sell the car, but she gave Jessica his number and urged her to plead her case.
It took Jessica 12 whole hours until she had enough confidence to phone the strange man. Although he was initially hesitant, he phoned back one hour later, to tell her, “I think your son will get more enjoyment out of having his dad’s car than I would.”
Although Justin’s father’s Toyota Celica had finally been located, there was still the problem of getting it from Utah to Texas and paying to have it all fixed up. Luckily, that’s where Follow the Flag, a non-profit organization, comes in.
Follow the Flag is aimed towards promoting patriotism, and when they heard about Jessica’s situation, they knew they had to help.
The charity raised enough money to buy Justin the convertible— and got it fixed up and transported right before his fifteenth birthday, a full year ahead of Jessica’s original schedule!
“Imagine the feeling of holding the steering wheel of a car your late father once drove,” wrote Follow the Flag president wrote. A father you never knew. A father who died in the line of duty serving his country. What a priceless gift.”
Despite everything that happened, Justin still had no idea about Jessica’s plan. Watch his face when he sees his dad’s car driving up in the video below!
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