A Joyous Return

The world got to know them by their first names, kept vigil for them, and for two long days feared they'd been murdered. In a place of so much violence and death, the two Simonas — Italian aid workers Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, both 29 — put themselves in the service of life. They moved to Iraq to rebuild schools, train teachers and distribute water and medicine. For that, on Sept. 7, they were snatched from their Baghdad office in broad daylight and held hostage, along with Mahnaz Bassam, 27, and Ra'ad Ali Abdul Aziz, 35, Iraqi employees of their...