Grandma's House

Here's to Sgt. Eric Lee, of the Louisiana National Guard, who is a real hero today. Sgt. Lee was leading his unit on his very first day of patrols in a new region. Here's what happened:

On his unit's first day of patrols in a newly assigned area in western Baghdad, near farmland once owned by Saddam Hussein's son Uday, Louisiana National Guard Sgt. Eric Lee thought it odd that a luxury car was parked next to a farmhouse. Then several other cars fled the property, heightening suspicion that the building was more than a farmhouse.

The unit, part of the 256th Enhanced Separate Brigade of the Louisiana National Guard, deployed to Iraq in October, moved closer, until Sgt. Paul Truscinski could see through a window.

What he saw inside was a weapons cache capable of killing scores of people. The weapons seized by the Guardsmen included 1,000 pounds of explosives, including an Italian-made anti-ship bomb, three artillery rounds, rockets, mortars, anti-tank weapons and industrial chemicals.

Thank you, Sgt. Lee. You've saved Christmas for a great many families.