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Justin Rozier

Photo courtesy of Jessica Johns

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U.S. Army First Lieutenant Jonathan Rozier was killed in the line of duty when his son, Justin, was 9 months old.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Johns

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One Texas teenager is going to get a very special surprise all the way from Pleasant Grove, Utah, thanks to social media and people who wanted to help. Fifteen years ago, U.S. Army First Lieutenant Jonathan Rozier was killed in the line of duty while serving in Iraq. Left to raise their nine-month-old son, his wife, Jessica Johns, had to sell Rozier’s car, a 1999 Toyota. Now that their son, Justin Rozier, is almost old enough to begin driving, he will be getting his dad’s car back.

“I was digging through some old boxes of papers, looking for something and came across the registration from when we registered his car in 2002,” said Johns. “I wondered if I could find his car again and if it was even still on the road. If it was, maybe it was for sale.”

Johns said that she and husband Peter Johns, a Navy wounded warrior, were planning to give Justin her Volkswagen Jetta, but then began thinking about his dad’s car. “I’m sentimental so I thought my son might want his dad’s car as his first car,” she said. “We did ask him if we could find Jon’s car, would he choose the Jetta or the Toyota. And he said, without hesitation, ‘My dad’s car,'” Johns said.

Johns began searching the Internet for the vehicle identification number from the registration and had no luck. She then started searching for 1999 Toyota Celicas and called several people all over the country to ask if the VIN numbers matched.

“I was hitting dead ends so I took to Facebook to see if anyone had any idea to help me find it,” said Johns. “Someone suggested a Carfax report since I had the VIN, so we pulled it.”

After that, the car was traced to the Pleasant Grove area. Johns and others started sharing photos of the car on Facebook and someone saw it and shared it with Cyd LeMone, city councilmember and administrator of the Pleasant Grove Community Connection page, where she posted it on Aug. 14. By Aug. 16, the car was found.

“The car was spotted. The owner’s daughter found me on Facebook,” said Johns. “I did not ever really think we would find it or that the owner would be willing to sell it.”

Kyle Fox, founder of Follow the Flag in Pleasant Grove, heard about the story and wanted to help. “Her story is pretty hard. It’s both happy and sad,” said Fox. “The two men she has married are both heroes and we stand and support soldiers.”

Fox set up a GoFundMe account to help Johns and her family be able to purchase the car and get it home to Texas.

As for Justin, he has no idea that the car has been found. It will be a happy surprise. He will be turning 15 in Oct. Johns said she was hoping to find the car before his 16th birthday.

“I did not think it would be so fast,” she said.

“I’ve known several widows who have tried to find their husbands’ cars and were not successful,” Johns said. “I’m so happy the old girl is coming home. It might be just a car, but it feels like so much more than that to our family.”