By: Amelia Keefer

“There is this perception that it will never happen to you. That you do not need to hear about The Red Cross’ military emergency communication messages or deployment support because it doesn’t affect you. But I lived the mission. I continue to live the mission. I’m the biggest cheerleader for The Red Cross, and I value every day I get to work here.”
 

Arthur’s Deployment
Initially, Veronica Mora knew little about The Red Cross. She’d learned first aid and CPR, and she gave blood when she was 17, but she didn’t know that we helped out military families until she was one of them. Her late husband, Arthur Mora Jr., served in Korea, then Operation Iraqi Freedom. He deployed to Iraq in July 2005. Before his final deployment, they found out they were going to have a son, Veronica was in the third trimester. 

From the first day of his deployment, The Red Cross was there to support them. Pre-deployment family readiness groups and workshops walked them through all of the Red Cross available resources, including the 1-800 number to call in an emergency. They got a magnet. Their advice: “Put it on your fridge. I hope you never have to use it.”

When she went to the hospital to give birth, she took the magnet with her. “I had my son at 7 o’clock in the morning and by 10 o’clock Arthur was on the phone. HOW? How did The Red Cross do it? How did they find him so quickly over there in Iraq? It still blows my mind that we can do that as an organization.” Arthur was not a boisterous, outgoing person—he and Veronica were very much yin and yang—but when he received the news, she was told that he jumped up on his chair and announced to the entire tent: "my son is here!” And the whole place erupted in cheers, laughter, and smiles. There isn’t much to celebrate in an active war zone, so she knows it made their day. After that, Arthur was able to see photos of their son through email and hear his breathing and cooing through the phone. Veronica is forever grateful that The Red Cross was able to make that possible. 

No, Arthur and their son never actually met. Eight days after their son’s birth, exactly 94 days since the start of his deployment, Arthur is killed in Iraq. “It is just like the movies. On October 20th, I laid our son down at 4:36 pm. We were just about to have dinner.” They didn’t ring the doorbell – they knocked. Rain tapped gently on the windows as her brother opened the door. Veronica walked toward the entryway and saw two uniformed figures standing in silence, one holding a folder. Even before they spoke, she felt it—Arthur was gone. When they asked to come inside, she froze. Her knees softened, as though grief had spoken directly to her bones. And there, in the hush between the knock and the news, a life she once knew slipped quietly into memory.

Widowed at just 22, with three young children, Veronica did what she had always done – she kept moving forward. In May of 2020, she graduated college during a global pandemic, wearing pajamas and holding a mimosa, celebrating a hard-earned milestone in the quiet of her living room and surrounded by her children. “The job market was wild – everything felt uncertain – so I used that time to really sharpen my resume and do my research,” she recalls.

Through it all, one thing never left her mind: the Red Cross. Sixteen years after they first supported her family, she still remembered their kindness. In May 2021, she applied to work for them. By June, she had her final interview. And in July, she began a new chapter—this time, as part of the mission that once held her up.
 

The US pulls out of Afghanistan
Early September 2021 - The Department of Defense requests The Red Cross’ assistance in supporting Afghan refugees being sheltered at US military bases. More than 800 Red Crossers answer the call. Veronica is one of them.

“I’m not in my job 60 days, and I’m asking to leave so that I can deploy to help out. I knew I had to be a part of it. My husband deployed to Iraq and supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan—he believed deeply in the mission and in helping others live free. In many ways, honoring him through this felt like a meaningful way to carry forward his legacy and bring this chapter of my journey to a close.” Thankfully, her new Red Cross management was completely supportive. While she was deployed, someone from her late husband’s unit reached out and gently said, “I don’t know if you know this, but we trained there before we deployed.”

The words stopped her cold.

To learn that the very place where her husband once trained before heading to Iraq was now where she stood—sixteen years later—offering aid to Afghan refugees was almost too much to process. “Even talking about it now, I have a lump in my throat. It was such a full circle moment.”
 

Living the Red Cross Mission
It’s been almost five years since Veronica became a full-time Red Crosser—and she hasn’t slowed down for a moment. Today, she serves as the Volunteer Supervisor for the Central and Southern Ohio Region, overseeing a network that spans more than 30 counties. Her leadership and dedication have made her an irreplaceable part of the mission in Ohio.

Veronica also serves on the steering committees for both the Veterans+ Team Member Resource Group—which uplifts veterans, military families, and caregivers—and the VIDA Resource Group, which celebrates and supports Latino and Hispanic cultures. For Veronica, a proud Mexican American and surviving military spouse, getting involved wasn’t even a question—it was personal.

Veronica’s story is a powerful one. She’s an example of what every Red Crosser wants to be, someone living the mission and working to alleviate human suffering every day.