ESTRELLA, ALEXANDER JOEL |
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Posted on Fri, Jul. 27, 2007HOLLYWOODAfter 2 decades, dad to remeet `baby'A father and daughter, separated for more than two decades, will reunite in Hollywood.BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRAjmooney@MiamiHerald.com
Nearly 22 years ago, Alex Estrella cradled his newborn daughter in
his arms.
But just days after her birth, the first-time father
was forced to say goodbye and return to Korea, where he was serving
in the U.S. Army.
He never expected that would be the last time he'd
see his little girl.
After more than two decades of searching for his
daughter, Estrella, 48, found her last week. The unexpected
discovery came after an 11-year-old boy who lives in the Hollywood
building where Estrella works as a security guard asked him to open
the computer room so he could check his MySpace.com account.
Half-jokingly, Estrella asked the boy to search for
an April Lynn in Florida. Only one popped up. Later that night, he
logged on to the site and messaged April Lynn Estrella, 21, who
lives near Fort Myers.
''Are you my April?'' he wrote.
In the e-mail, he jotted down a series of personal
tidbits he knew about his daughter: born in Savannah, raised in
Florida, her mother's name.
The next morning, his phone rang.
''Hi, Daddy,'' the caller said. ``This is April.''
After talking on the phone for several hours a day
for a week, Estrella and his daughter will reunite Saturday morning
at his Hollywood home.
It's a day both have dreamed about.
''I know I am going to cry. I'm excited, scared,
nervous -- everything,'' said April Lynn Estrella, who is going to
school to become a medical assistant and x-ray technician.
Her father is equally anxious.
''I wish I had an idiot's guide on how to be in
situations like that,'' he said. ``I know I am going to melt. That's
my baby.''
Estrella has held onto the memories of April Lynn as
a baby, when he carried her around their Savannah home and stroked
her back as she slept in her crib.
While he was serving in Korea, his wife moved with
April Lynn and didn't tell him where she was going.
''I don't know the whole story. For years, I always
asked my mother about my father. She wouldn't really talk to me
about him,'' said April Lynn, who still lives with her mother.
All she knew about her father was his name, that he
was Dominican and that he served in the military.
She also knew what he looked like, treasuring a few
photographs, which she keeps in an album. One of the photos is
particularly special, she said.
''There is one picture of me and him when I was a
baby. I carry it everywhere,'' the young woman said.
For Estrella, a former Army Ranger and Gulf War
veteran, learning his daughter had disappeared was heartbreaking.
``I almost committed suicide.''
As April Lynn grew up, she always thought of her
father, she said. Though her mother married two more times, she
never connected with her stepfathers.
Estrella also remarried, and had another daughter,
now 17. He has since divorced his second wife.
He said he always thought of his first-born.
Ironically, she was closer to him than he realized.
When he was living in Biscayne Gardens, North Miami and Hollywood,
April Lynn was with her mother, in Cutler Ridge.
He tried finding her on the Internet, but had no
luck.
April Lynn took similar measures to find her father,
at one point paying a search firm $80 to locate him. About a year
ago, she found a man with her father's name in Hollywood. Doubtful
it was him, she never called or wrote.
When they first spoke on Saturday, they immediately
made plans to meet a week later. April Lynn will leave Fort Myers
this Saturday at 5 a.m. to drive to Hollywood.
She hasn't told her mother about the reunion.
''I'm scared to tell her,'' she said. ``She has been
so hesitant to tell me about him. I don't know what she'll feel
like.''
For now, she's focusing on getting to know her Dad.
Estrella says they'll go out for breakfast and catch
up on two decades.
They hope to spend every weekend together, splitting
their time between Fort Myers and Hollywood.
''She was the puzzle in my life I was always trying
to solve,'' he said. ``I never wanted to bring a kid into this world
and not be there for her. I want her to understand that.''
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Project ChildHelp, Inc. and Runner Alex Estrella Join to Help
Raise Funds for Orphans.... Remembering Michelle ... When Alex Estrella, a former Ranger who served in the first Gulf War... .... But for the former military man who served with the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne during Operation Desert Storm... MILWAUKEE (AP) - A former U.S. Army ranger in Florida... |
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NOTE:
March 3 of 1988 he returns to the U.S. from KOREA. In April of 1989 he is sent to Kentucky,
There are no duty stations noted for overseas assignments for Saudi, Kuwait, Afghanistan or Iraq.
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Note absence of SOUTHWEST ASIA SERVICE MEDAL. Note absence of ARMED FORCES EXPEDITIONARY MEDAL. Note absence of RANGER TAB. "... It appears
that he was with the 1st Bn 75th Ranger at Hunter Army Airfield (their
home base) His Special Forces
Association was with Reserves. "...He did have some Airborne time with the 82nd and with 101st at Ft. Campbell KY...."
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1. Description: A bronze medal 1 ¼ inches wide, with the words "SOUTHWEST ASIA SERVICE" across the center background. ... Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal:
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