LAWRENCE - The men seemed to have nothing in common, but their bond was immediate and unshakeable.

The fathers of Army Spec. Alex Jimenez of Lawrence and Pvt. Byron Fouty of Michigan met for the first time late Friday night in the lobby of GuestHouse Methuen hotel and greeted each other with a bear hug you might expect from lifelong friends reuniting.

"As sorrowful as it is, I'm glad I'm getting to share my son and my heart with you," Fouty's former stepfather, Gordy Dibler Jr., told Alex's father, Andy Jimenez, of Lawrence. "I got excited about coming because I couldn't wait to meet you and talk to you."

Jimenez said just as members of the armed forces consider themselves brothers, he has found a brother in Dibler.

Fouty's former stepfather agreed.

"We are a family now. I can tell you have the heart of a brother. The brotherhood is what has changed me," Dibler said.

Jimenez and Fouty were kidnapped May 12 when their unit was ambushed by al-Qaida-linked militants 20 miles south of Baghdad. The dead body of a third soldier was found floating on the Euphrates River.

Dibler flew in Friday night and Alex's mother, Maria Duran, and his brother, Bryant, 16, flew in from Corona, N.Y., yesterday morning. The reunion between the soldiers' families was arranged by Jim Sereigo-Wareing of Methuen, founder of New England Caring for Our Military.

Yesterday, Dibler, Duran and Jimenez arrived in black limousines at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Lawrence to help volunteers assemble care packages to send to Iraq.

When Duran got out of the car, she whispered, "Oh, My God" as she saw the photograph of her son and Fouty reproduced on a 6-by-4-foot banner which read, "Together they serve our nation; together they will come home," and the words Hope and Faith.

She approached the banner, put her hands on her lips and touched her son's photo.

"I'm asking God to give me strength to continue," said Duran, who wore a black pant suit with a white shirt. "It's very difficult."

During the event, the families received a telephone call from Baghdad from a fellow soldier.

Dibler held his face with one hand while listening to the soldier. Jimenez placed his hand on Dibler's shoulder as a sign of suport. Dibler reached his hand and also held Jimenez.

"That was great. That was neat. Any connection to them is good," Dibler said.

The words from Iraq also brought comfort to Alex's little brother.

"I felt better when I heard they were still searching for them," said Bryant, who was wearing a white T-shirt bearing Alex's photograph on the POW-MIA logo. "It makes me feel better knowing there's a lot of support for us and our soldiers. It takes a load off our shoulders."

Members of the VFW Post 2104, North Andover, presented a color guard.

"We feel close to our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan," said John Doherty, of Andover, who served two tours in Vietnam.

"We've been there, done that and want to lend any support we can to the families. It's a common bond when you have worn the uniform."

The Rev. Jose Padilla, assistant pastor of Free Methodist Church, Lawrence, led a prayer in Spanish.

Padilla, of Methuen, knows too well what Dibler and Jimenez are feeling. His son, Jose Javier, 30, is serving his second tour in Iraq. The Pinkerton Academy graduate has been wounded three times and has received two Purple Hearts.

"Prayers are like shields God places upon our children," said Padilla, himself an Army veteran of the Vietnam War. "By the grace of God, he is still alive because of the trust we've placed in God. There's nothing more important than prayer."

During his overnight stay in the city, Dibler said he felt the support for his former step son and Jimenez.

"I'm overwhelmed by your community support," Dibler said. "I'm also touched by the bravery of Alex's family, their steadfastness and the whole project which reaches so many people."

Volunteers placed socks, T-shirts, toiletries, canned foods, crackers, candy and books into brown paper bags, which were then placed into boxes to be shipped overseas.

The first boxes will be sent to soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, the group from Fort Drum, N.Y., to which Fouty and Jimenez were assigned. Boxes also will be mailed to the search teams looking for the two missing soldiers, as well as to troops serving overseas.

In all, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 care packages will be sent by the group.

Volunteer Kristen Begin of Methuen cried during the ceremony.

"As a mother with a daughter in the military, you feel for the parents," said Begin, whose daughter, Jaime, 20, is finishing basic training. "That could be me one day."

Meanwhile, Alex's mother was placing canned foods into a bag when she said, "I have to help in any way I can so the soldiers can be well nourished and have energy to keep looking for them."

On Friday, Jimenez and Dibler spent more than two hours talking in the hotel's conference room. They were joined by Sereigo-Wareing and Francisco Urena, the city's director of Veterans Services.

The Eagle-Tribune was exclusively invited to the meeting, at which Jimenez, 53, of Albion Street, and Dibler, 49, talked openly about their religious beliefs, raising a family, the happy times they spent with their sons, their ordeal of not knowing their whereabouts and how they have coped with it.

They broke the ice by talking about their sons' interest in the armed services.

Jimenez told Dibler that Alex had an innate desire to be in the military.

"When the recruiter asked him when he wanted to joined, Alex said, 'Since I was in my mother's womb."

Everyone in the room laughed.

Dibler recalls driving Fouty home from boot camp graduation, and the soldier slept most of the way back.

"I just stared at him. I was so proud. I was very happy with who he was. At that moment, I respected him so much," said Dibler, a team leader at General Motors' assembly center in Pontiac, Mich.

Jimenez brought in a banner showing Alex in his Army uniform with the phrase, "Alex Jimenez We Are With You" in English and Spanish.

Similarly, Dibler brought a collage Fouty's sister Sarah, 15, had made with an array of pictures including her brother playing the piano, riding a horse at a 4H fair, in his Army uniform and posing with family members. Dibler also showed Jimenez a photograph of his grandson on his cellular telephone.

Jimenez and Dibler have more in common than two missing sons.

Jimenez told Dibler he draws strength from his Catholic faith, and has seen signs that give him hope his son and Fouty are alive.

When Jimenez and his estranged wife Maria Duran went to the United Nations chapel in New York City to pray, a white dove flew by him, almost hitting his head.

"To me, it was a great sign of hope," said Jimenez, a construction worker.

Jimenez said he has shed his macho persona and has become more sentimental.

To which Dibler responded, "Tears don't make you weak. Tears are a form of prayer."

Though no tears were shed Friday, it does not mean they were not suffering, the fathers said.