More on the saga of the wife and son of fallen Marine Michael Ferschke. From Stars and Stripes-

On Friday, Hotaru Ferschke, the Okinawa widow of a Marine killed in Iraq last summer, and Michael H. Ferschke III, the son he never saw, will fly to Maryville, Tenn., to start their new life.After a memorial service for Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., 22, at the base chapel last Friday, Mikey, as the family is calling him, gurgled peacefully and stared up at his mother and grandparents as they expressed their excitement — and apprehension — about the 6-week-old baby’s future.

“This whole trip has been a little bit of everything — beautiful, touching, emotional, heart-rending, happy and terribly sad,” said Robin Ferschke, Mikey’s grandmother.

“Originally, this trip was planned to be a reunion with Michael and his wife and new son,” she said.

But Sgt. Ferschke, a team leader with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, was killed Aug. 10 while conducting house-to-house searches in a town north of Baghdad. It was just a month after he married Hotaru by proxy.

Hotaru or Hota for short, has decided to raise Mikey in the place his father grew up in. She lost her husband but wants to keep his legacy alive by raising their son where he grew up.

It isn’t easy either as Robin Ferschke, explains.

After her husband’s death, Hotaru surprised her mother-in-law by deciding to move to Maryville and raise Mikey where his father was raised.”It was something I prayed for but dared not ask,” Robin said. “No other woman would do what she is doing.”

Marriage, the death of her husband, pregnancy and having to fight with consular and immigration officials. Hotaru was through so much, but by this time next week she’ll be in Tennessee.

“As he grows, Mikey looks more and more like his father,” Hotaru said. “His toes, fingers and now the chin.” She said she will miss Okinawa, but she is excited about the new phase in her life.”Yes, I do feel nervous about moving to the States, but at the same time, I know that I have my mother-in-law, father-in-law, family and all the friends there who will always stand behind me and support me,” she said. “It is a great sense of security.”

By raising her son in Tennessee, she hopes he will grow to become like his father.

“I want our son to grow up to know how wonderful and caring man his father was, who was loved by so many people,” she said. “I want him to grow up to be a kind, honest and strong man like his father.”

Robin Ferschke calls Hotaru a wonderful Mommy. She certainly sounds like it. God bless her, Mikey, and the rest of the Ferschke family.

Hotaru’s immigration battle is not over. She is coming to the US on a one year visa. Congressman John Duncan and Senator Lamar Alexander will file a private bill for the mother. Lets hope that works out, or the morons at CIS reverse their initial decision to deny Hotaru a green card. Michael Ferschke gave his life for this country and his fellow Marines, we owe his wife no less than the right to live here as long as she wishes.

The above linked  Stars and Stripes article about Hotaru’s trip to the US and another about the ceremony honoring her husband are both worth reading in their entirety.