{"id":241,"date":"2010-04-16T15:24:51","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T15:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/p=?241"},"modified":"2010-04-16T15:24:51","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T15:24:51","slug":"brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A brave soldier has returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan to meet a very special person for the first time. <br><br>Private James Rhodes, of the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, was &quot;overjoyed&quot; to finally hold his baby son Liam, who was born two weeks before his time on the frontline finished, Keighley News reports.<br><br>&quot;It was awesome to see him for the first time,&quot; he said. <br><br>Private Rhodes&rsquo; comrade Private Richard Whiteoak also returned from his time in Afghanistan on April 2nd, receiving a medal for his efforts in the country.<br><br>He explained: &quot;I have wanted to be in the army all my life. It&rsquo;s nerve-wracking having all my family here at the ceremony but it is nice to get a medal.&quot;<br><br>Worcestershire soldier Private Alex Kennedy, 19, recently became the youngest person in more than 40 years to be awarded one of the UK&rsquo;s highest wartime honours &ndash; the Military Cross &ndash; for his bravery while serving on the frontline in Afghanistan. <br><br>Posted by Samantha Thompson <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ADNFCR-2867-ID-19726103-ADNFCR\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.directnews.co.uk\/feedtrack\/justcopyright.gif?feedid=2867&amp;itemid=19726103\"\/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One member of the armed forces has met a very special someone on returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time - Forces Penpals US<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time - Forces Penpals US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One member of the armed forces has met a very special someone on returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Forces Penpals US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-16T15:24:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"201\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Forces Penpals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Forces Penpals\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/\",\"name\":\"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time - Forces Penpals US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-16T15:24:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":201,\"caption\":\"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/\",\"name\":\"Forces Penpals US\",\"description\":\"military penpals, military dating and support for military personnel\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c\",\"name\":\"Forces Penpals\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Forces Penpals\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/author\/news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time - Forces Penpals US","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time - Forces Penpals US","og_description":"One member of the armed forces has met a very special someone on returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.","og_url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/","og_site_name":"Forces Penpals US","article_published_time":"2010-04-16T15:24:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":201,"url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Forces Penpals","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Forces Penpals","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/","url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/","name":"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time - Forces Penpals US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-16T15:24:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg","width":300,"height":201,"caption":"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/brave-soldier-meets-baby-son-for-the-first-time\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Brave soldier meets baby son for the first time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/","name":"Forces Penpals US","description":"military penpals, military dating and support for military personnel","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c","name":"Forces Penpals","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Forces Penpals"},"url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/news\/author\/news\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/04\/Soldier-FootpatrolinPaktyaprovinceAghanistan_2867_19726103_0_0_7054551_300.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}