Army Lt. Jonathan David Rozier left behind a wife and infant son when he was deployed to Iraq. Sadly, on July 19, 2003, Lt. Rozier was killed by an unexploded rocket grenade in Baghdad.

Jessica Johns, his wife, had just spoken to her husband 12 hours before the tragedy. All of the sudden, she was a single mother and left with many difficult decisions. Now that she was on her own, she had to figure out how to help pay for daycare.

Johns took Rozier’s 1999 black Toyota Celica convertible back to the dealership in hopes that they would forfeit the loan due to her circumstances. The dealership was compassionate about her situation, and she was able to return the car.

Justin was just a few months old at the time of his father’s death, leaving his mother to be the sole financial provider for the family.

“I didn’t want to keep chipping away at my savings to pay for a car that nobody was using,” she recalls. “It was just sitting in my driveway.”

Over a decade passed since Johns’ husband died, and life was back to “normal.” Recently, however, as she was looking for Justin’s birth certificate, she came across the registration for the 1999 Toyota Celica. Memories began to flood back and all of the sudden, she had an epiphany.

Justin was now 15-years-old and had his driving permit. Johns thought his dad’s old car would be the perfect gift. She just had to track it down.

“I wonder if this car is still out there? I was thinking I would go on a years-long search to find this car,” she told NBC News.

Johns immediately took to Facebook to see if she could have some help in tracking down the car. It was a long shot, but she wanted to try. She knew that if she started searching now, that would give her a year to locate it before her son’s 16th birthday.

In just a matter of days after posting the plea on Facebook, she heard from the daughter of the car owner who was located in Utah.

The daughter explained to Johns that he might not be interested in selling the car, but she gave her a contact phone number, and Johns waited for a call. An hour later — her phone rang. It was the owner of the car.

“I think that your son will get more enjoyment out of having his dad’s car than I would,” she remembered him saying. “I just got really excited,” she said.

Now that Johns had located the car and the owner was willing to sell it, she needed funds to buy and refurbish it. Once again, she turned to social media.

A Utah-based organization called Follow The Flag got in touch with Johns after hearing and seeing her story online. The group wanted to help with all of the costs and was able to ship the car down to Johns at her Texas home.

“It’s what we do, it’s something we do in hopes of inspiring others,” said Kyle Fox, the founder of Follow The Flag. The group’s mission is to promote patriotism in America.

After a month-and-a-half after Follow The Flag stepped in to help, the car finally arrived. It was an emotional moment for Johns because it had been over 14 years since she’d seen her husband in the driver’s seat.

“I started getting emotional because I never saw John drive that car home,” Johns said.

Justin was surprised with the momentous gift right before his birthday. When he sat in the car, Johns recalled the moment that her son realized that it was his actually his late dad’s car — it was overwhelming.

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By Ashley Fike

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Ashley Fike is a contributor at SBLY Media.