Speaking of touching baby name stories…
Lance Cpl. Edward “Augie” Schroeder II was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in August of 2005, when he was just 23 years old.
Three years later, Augie’s father, Paul Schroeder, received an email from a man he’d never met named Jeff, who lives in California. Jeff had heard Schroeder’s August 2005 interview on NPR about his son, the fallen Marine.
“Your story moved me,” Jeff wrote. “My wife was pregnant at the time and we knew we were having a boy. … I shared your story with my wife.”
Jeff and his wife decided to name their son Augustus, in honor of his wife’s grandfather, and Augie Schroeder.
“He is known only as ‘Auggie,'” Jeff wrote to Paul. “He is a beautiful boy, and every time I think of the war and think of the loss, I think of you and your family.”
It was a shock, but a good one. He was the first of four babies to bear Augie’s name.
The other three babies named for Augie are his nephew, the son of a childhood friend, and the son of a college classmate. His nephew is Nicholas Augie, and the two other boys each have the middle name Augustus.
Source: Schultz, Connie. “Living monuments to Augie Schroeder.” Cleveland.com 6 Jul. 2011.