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by Larry Mendte
(CBS 3) The numbers that are reported every night on the news of the casualties in Iraq can be cold and impersonal because every number represents a hero, many from our area. And every number is a story that deserves to be told. CBS 3's Larry Mendte relates the story of Corporal Stephen McGowan - the Beanie Baby soldier.

There are people in this world who can create a ray of hope in our darkest hour of despair.

Stephen McGowan, 26, joined the army in the tsunami of emotion that flooded this country after 9/11.

"For him protecting the nation was an immediate response," said his mother Bobbie McGowan.

And when it was time for soldiers to go to Iraq, Stephen volunteered.

"His roommate had a 3-year-old and he felt it was his duty to go before men who had children," said Bobbie.

McGowan made children his mission in Iraq. Even though he was a medic in a scout group that saw action and atrocities almost everyday, he found beauty and hope in the faces of Iraqi children.

"He said don't send me anything for Christmas this year just send me toys to give to the children," said Bobbie.

The easiest toys to carry on missions were Beanie Babies. Stephen started handing them out to the Iraqi Children and the story quickly spread of the Beanie Baby soldier.

"We were inundated with Beanie Babies," explained Bobbie.

The Beanie Baby soldier started getting letters from school children in the United States and he would send back a photo essay he put together to explain to children why our country is in Iraq.

It is still played in classrooms and it still has a powerful impact

"The presentation that we just saw, there are no words for it; is the human soul and its core," said Adam Pranda of the Cab Calloway High School in Wilmington.

"It just gives us hope that there are people like that willing to die for us and it's really very touching," said student Meg Barton.

Especially touching because it is a message from the grave.

In March of 2005, Bobbie broke down when she saw two officers making the long walk down the hall to her Newark apartment.

"I just said no, no are you sure it's Stephen and he said yes ma'am we're sure," said Bobbie.

Stephen McGowan died when a roadside bomb detonated near his patrol near Ramadi. His body is buried at Arlington National Cemetery but he left us all something; hope in its most innocent form.

The Beanie Babies just keep coming in. The Delaware State Police and a charity named after a fallen trooper have picked up where Stephen left off

"To date we collected over 55,000 Beanie Babies, we put hundreds in boxes and send them 50 at a time to Iraq," said Jennifer Hawkin, co-founder of the Ronald G. Williams Foundation.

Recently members of the Delaware Air National Guard handed out thousands of the beanies during their tour in Iraq.
Woody Gilger was there and remembers a little Iraqi girl who was scared of the soldiers until she saw the Beanie Baby.

"That picture is worth a thousand words. She saw the Beanie Baby and came right up to us and smiled. And then I knew I was doing something worthwhile. It was that type of feeling," said Gilger.

And imagine how that little girl feels now or any Iraqi Child who goes to bed with the comfort given them from the heart of Stephen McGowan.

"It's going to be much harder to convince that child that Americans are devils when they have a soft Beanie Baby and they remember that soldier knowing he gave it to them," said Bobbie.

And that is the gift that Stephen McGowan gave us; the gift of hope for the next generation.

To learn more about more about Corporal Stephen McGowan and his lasting legacy Click Here.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)