You did not see my nephew when he was crouched in the corner of his new bedroom with sheer terror on his face and in his eyes. He needed comfort and caring sometimes on an hourly basis, and he became relaxed but only after 6 weeks of kindness and consideration. That is important to a child who has had food withheld, facial slaps, pinching, ridicule, and ostracization from any semblance of caring. His age was that of a fourth-grader, but tests put him at first grade level. I spent that six weeks before school started teaching the ABCs in alphabet orde, simple addition and subtraction, the school administration loaned me some Lippincott basic readers from 1st through 4th grade, and I personally conducted his reading lessons so that he could retake tests with children his age. That placed him in 3rd grade classes in the best elementary school in town. He had me one on one for six hours a day, five days a week, field trips to a waterfall, a warm springs swim, swimming at a mile-high lake, hot lunches, Sunday School and worship services, and children card and "Candyland" games with his cousins in the evenings alternated with tv shows one hour every other evening, hot dinners, and breakfast at I-Hop every Saturday morning. He was also taken to Yellowstone National Park, Bear Trap Meadow picnic, and a Lake Alcova boat ride, and could pick a child's book at the town library for reading. He loved every minute of it, and we loved him as much as if he were one of our own two children. He responded with learning to cooperating with self-improvement in academics. In school with other children, he was able to get along reasonably well after spending the summer interacting with his cousins, his aunt and his uncle. We helped him learn to manage money, and with never having had any, he learned the value of coins, buying small items, and saving one dollar a week going to the bank. My husband taught him how to pitch a softball, catch and play volleyball, and take a swing at badminton with our kids and ourselves. Our children got over their initial jealousy, and by the time school started, they walked back and forth from the elementary school a few blocks from our house. It was good for all of us. After school started, I never saw him cringe or worry again, and we had the joy of seeing my brother his dad a lot oftener than never! He also experienced a move from Wyoming to Oregon when my husband got a double promotion in his job. What a great time we had with our nephew getting a new lease on life with no worries and being treated to what most Americans have--a family and as carefree childhood years he never had before except when his father was on leave a week every year until my brother was stationed at Corpus Christi with his new caregiver wife. yea! She made sure he was well-cared for in their new home in Corpus Christi. I was totally happy for him.
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Their movements were not to be known, so he could not let me know where he was his entire 20 year tour. We raised his son from the day he started learning the ABCs till about the fifth grade, when my brother remarried a lovely woman who gave our nephew every minute she could spare until he chose to join the Navy like his dad. 
