SAN DIEGO -- Randy Sherrill and his 4-year-old son, Dallas, lost their Harbison Canyon home in the Cedar Fire.

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"Everything I owned was in this house," Sherrill said.

He was aboard a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf when the fires erupted in San Diego. The Navy immediately flew him back to the United States.

"I just wanted to get home and my commanding officer was very supportive and they got me off the ship as quick as they could," Sherrill said.

Sherrill's timeline for rebuilding is limited and he will need to go back to the Persian Gulf soon.

"I'm only here for a couple more weeks, until I get all my insurance stuff taken care of, and then I've got to fly back to the Gulf. So I just got to hurry up and get everything done," he said.

Sherrill's bad luck didn't end. After buying new toys for his son and locking them in his pickup truck, everything was stolen.

Sherrill's 1997 F-150 pickup truck was stolen from the Best Buy parking lot in El Cajon and police told him there is not much hope recovering the vehicle after 48 hours.

"They said if they don't recover it in 48 hours then it probably won't be recovered," Sherrill said.

He said he is not angry about his run with bad luck and that he has insurance. He just wanted to share his story for one reason.

"The Navy helped me get here to do what I needed to do and I wanted to thank the Navy," he said.