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American Morning

Interview With Paul Holton

Aired December 24, 2003 - 07:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to another story that's a very sweet story. When Army Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton isn't questioning Iraqi prisoners or debriefing civilians with information, he is being deployed in a very different way, providing gifts and smiles for Iraqi children. To the kids, he's known as Chief Wiggles and he is the driving force behind a program in Iraq called "Operation Give: Sharing Joys With Toys."
Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton joins us from Baghdad this morning.

Loving the hat, Chief Holton.

Thanks for being with us.

PAUL HOLTON, AKA "CHIEF WIGGLES": Hello.

O'BRIEN: Nice to see you.

A good, merry Christmas to you.

Can I ask you about the nickname?

At first I thought you got the nickname Chief Wiggles because, you know, from the kids and the toys. But actually this is a nickname you've had since you were in third grade, is that right?

HOLTON: That's correct. It started out basically in third grade when one of my friends called me Polly Wally Wiggles. And so it -- they shortened it to Wiggles and later to Wigs, actually. But it stuck and I've had it most my life and so I thought it was appropriate now to give it life again and call it Chief Wiggles in that I'm dealing with toys.

O'BRIEN: Tell me how you started Operation Give and why.

HOLTON: Well, early on, in that I was interacting with a lot of families and children in Iraq, as I was questioning sources and POWs, I felt like I wanted to give something to the families that were coming to visit. And so I asked some of my cohorts back home at FedEx to send me some toys. And then again, when I saw the kids, one special little girl that I saw outside the barbed wire fence, she was crying and she'd been separated from her mother. And so I reached out, pulled her inside the wire and ran back to my office, grabbed the toys and the feeling I got when I gave those toys to her and her smile and her eyes lit up, I was so excited. And I knew that I had to carry that same feeling to other children and other opportunities in Iraq. So it just mushroomed, it just mushroomed from there.

O'BRIEN: I know that you, obviously, are close to ending your tour of duty in Iraq. But you're hopeful that this is something that's going to live on well past -- after you leave.

How do you intend to do that?

Will Iraqis take it over, do you think?

HOLTON: Yes, right now I'm trying to set up kind of a network, a distribution network to handle the toys after I leave in that I'm hoping that they'll just continue to flood in. We actually have two full 40 foot containers that'll be leaving Baltimore from our Operationgive.com warehouse and so there's thousands of boxes on these containers. And I hope that once they get here, even though I'm gone, that some of the Iraqis that I've chosen will just continue to distribute the toys around the country.

O'BRIEN: You are clearly a guy who loves children. I know you have four of your own and your wife is back at home. And you have a grandchild, as well. We don't have a ton of time, but if there's anything you want to say while we have you up on the satellite back to your family at home as we approach Christmas, we'd love to hear it.

HOLTON: Well, yes, I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas, of course, and I wanted to say hi to my granddaughter Patella (ph) back home. And I miss my kids, my family. But I'm so committed to what I'm doing here. I'm excited about my mission and I'm glad I'm here, actually. And I hope to be able to connect with the Iraqi people through the children.

O'BRIEN: Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton joining us this morning.

Good for you.

Thanks for being with us.

We appreciate it.

HOLTON: Oh, it's great.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: Our pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 24, 2003 - 07:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to another story that's a very sweet story. When Army Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton isn't questioning Iraqi prisoners or debriefing civilians with information, he is being deployed in a very different way, providing gifts and smiles for Iraqi children. To the kids, he's known as Chief Wiggles and he is the driving force behind a program in Iraq called "Operation Give: Sharing Joys With Toys."
Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton joins us from Baghdad this morning.

Loving the hat, Chief Holton.

Thanks for being with us.

PAUL HOLTON, AKA "CHIEF WIGGLES": Hello.

O'BRIEN: Nice to see you.

A good, merry Christmas to you.

Can I ask you about the nickname?

At first I thought you got the nickname Chief Wiggles because, you know, from the kids and the toys. But actually this is a nickname you've had since you were in third grade, is that right?

HOLTON: That's correct. It started out basically in third grade when one of my friends called me Polly Wally Wiggles. And so it -- they shortened it to Wiggles and later to Wigs, actually. But it stuck and I've had it most my life and so I thought it was appropriate now to give it life again and call it Chief Wiggles in that I'm dealing with toys.

O'BRIEN: Tell me how you started Operation Give and why.

HOLTON: Well, early on, in that I was interacting with a lot of families and children in Iraq, as I was questioning sources and POWs, I felt like I wanted to give something to the families that were coming to visit. And so I asked some of my cohorts back home at FedEx to send me some toys. And then again, when I saw the kids, one special little girl that I saw outside the barbed wire fence, she was crying and she'd been separated from her mother. And so I reached out, pulled her inside the wire and ran back to my office, grabbed the toys and the feeling I got when I gave those toys to her and her smile and her eyes lit up, I was so excited. And I knew that I had to carry that same feeling to other children and other opportunities in Iraq. So it just mushroomed, it just mushroomed from there.

O'BRIEN: I know that you, obviously, are close to ending your tour of duty in Iraq. But you're hopeful that this is something that's going to live on well past -- after you leave.

How do you intend to do that?

Will Iraqis take it over, do you think?

HOLTON: Yes, right now I'm trying to set up kind of a network, a distribution network to handle the toys after I leave in that I'm hoping that they'll just continue to flood in. We actually have two full 40 foot containers that'll be leaving Baltimore from our Operationgive.com warehouse and so there's thousands of boxes on these containers. And I hope that once they get here, even though I'm gone, that some of the Iraqis that I've chosen will just continue to distribute the toys around the country.

O'BRIEN: You are clearly a guy who loves children. I know you have four of your own and your wife is back at home. And you have a grandchild, as well. We don't have a ton of time, but if there's anything you want to say while we have you up on the satellite back to your family at home as we approach Christmas, we'd love to hear it.

HOLTON: Well, yes, I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas, of course, and I wanted to say hi to my granddaughter Patella (ph) back home. And I miss my kids, my family. But I'm so committed to what I'm doing here. I'm excited about my mission and I'm glad I'm here, actually. And I hope to be able to connect with the Iraqi people through the children.

O'BRIEN: Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton joining us this morning.

Good for you.

Thanks for being with us.

We appreciate it.

HOLTON: Oh, it's great.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: Our pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com