Father's Promise Kept

On Sept. 1, CBS Evening News told you the story of a soldier from Texas who had made a promise to his young son – but was killed in Iraq before he could keep it.

That story touched many hearts in our audience, and CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports on what has happened through the kindness of strangers.

To understand why what's under a tarp is so important, we have to go back nearly two years to a soldier's simple promise.

Shane Colton was about to be deployed for his second tour of duty in Iraq. He told his son Lance as soon as he got back, they'd finish their project.

That "project" was a '68 Camaro – a piece of junk they hoped to turn into a jewel.

"We had a race to see who could take apart their part of the engine fastest," says Lance Colton, Shane's son. "He cheated. He made me sweep up the floor."

But one month later, Lance's father was shot down near Baghdad.

The Camaro sat silent – a rusty reminder for both his son and his widow.

"I often thought, 'Gosh, doesn't anybody care?'" says Inge Colton, Shane's wife. "And then, all of this happened."

What happened? CBS Evening News simply told their story as part of the Fallen Heroes segment.

Soon, auto parts dealers all across the country were donating parts, and a shop class near Lance's home vowed to help him finish the job.

But war would put the breaks on that dream too.

Soon, nearly every one of the students had been deployed to Iraq themselves — and the Colton Camaro sat silent again.

"I knew it was going to get done if I had to come over there and build it myself," Lance says.

There was a long way to go. But then the stalled project got the attention of another group of shop students some 1,200 miles away in North Carolina. They asked if they could give it a shot.

"We actually Fed-Ex-ed it," says Alex Tainsch of Soffseal. "The whole car, in pieces."

Soon those pieces began to take shape.

"It's much more than just a car. It's much, much more than just a car," says student Josh Foster.

They volunteered their nights and weekends – all for a boy none had ever met.

"It's going to be sad to see it go, but like I said, it's making someone else happy so that's all that counts," says student Robin Richardson.

Which gets us back to that tarp. Underneath was the finished work of strangers. It was a year-long labor of love that Lance was about to see — a father's wartime promise, finally kept.

"This is exactly how he wanted it, but he would have done it in way more time with me," says Lance.

It's a hero's hot-rod made by heroes back home.

"It's amazing that so many people would be so selfless, like you see all this evil and greed in the world, then this huge bunch of people got together for this one project," Lance says.

It is a project that made a boy smile again, and a dad — wherever he is — certainly proud.