Returning Marines performed heroically

[thedrifter]

Returning Marines performed heroically
September 17,2005
BY CHRIS MAZZOLINI View stories by reporter
DAILY NEWS STAFF

There's few things that can bring a Marine Corps staff sergeant to tears. Seeing his infant son for the first time is one of them.

Six-month old Cole Hanson was born while his dad, Staff Sgt. Timothy Hanson, was deployed to Iraq with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines. So although Hanson has seen pictures of his son, he's had to fight through seven months of fierce combat to hold him.

"We got a present for him," said Hanson's wife, Michaelynn, as she hoisted Cole, who was decked out in a hat, shirt and shoes dappled in stars and stripes.

Cole wasn't the only one wearing his patriotic finest. A crowd of families and friends of the roughly 900 Marines from 3/2 waited in a parking lot Friday at Camp Lejeune, waving flags and hanging welcome-home signs from the upper-story railings of the unit's barracks.

Nervousness was a common feeling.

"I have butterflies in my stomach," said Kristin Ceppaluni, girlfriend of Lance Cpl. Kyle Mergner. She joined Mergner's family for the trip down to Jacksonville from Jackson, N.J. "I'm really excited. I'm really nervous."

Ceppaluni smiled.

"I'm really happy."

While loved ones experience frazzled nerves throughout he duration of a deployment, it's much the same for returning Marines, who, in this case, had to endure a slow bus ride back to Lejeune from Cherry Point - then a trip to the armory - before reuniting with parents, wives, girlfriends and kids.

"You come home with a lot of good anxiety â?¦," said Maj. John Reed, 3/2's executive officer, who returned home with an advance party on Sept. 1. "During the deployment, you rely on your buddies, the Marines to your left and right, and it's important to keep in touch with them through the reunion process.

"But there's nothing better than to come home and get hugs from loved ones."

The battalion spent its deployment in Iraq's Al Anbar province near the border of Syria, a war-torn area rife with foreign fighters. They fought in many nationally recognized operations - such as operations Matador, Spear and Quick Strike - to route out insurgents.

Three from the battalion were killed in action, said 2nd Lt. Barry Edwards, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division.

"The combat operations fought by 3/2 were violent, more so than stability and support operations," said Reed. "3/2 was in all-out combat, and that occurred the entire time. These Marines performed heroically, and they are coming home to a hero's welcome."

That welcome came when the buses finally arrived and a cheer erupted from the crowd. The Marines filed off and marched through a throng of clapping people. They lined up at attention one last time, and then were dismissed into the waiting arms of their families.

And Hanson finally got to hold his son. Shaking and fighting back tears, he could barely put into words how happy he was to see his wife and son.

"It's unbelievable," Hanson said. "It's all you live for. No matter what you do over there, this is what matters."

Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or at 353-1171, Ext. 229.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines welcomed home Sea of yellow ribbons awaited men upon arrival from Iraq
Saturday, September 17, 2005
By Robyn Adams
Republican-American

NEW HAVEN -- On an dreary, overcast Friday morning, 150 people at the Maj. Joseph M. Loughran Jr. U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Center couldn't have been happier.

After being on active duty for nine months, their Marine sons, brothers, husbands and fathers were returning home.

As the crowd waited for the buses to arrive, moms Denise Miller of Naugatuck and Nancy Darling of West Haven finished tacking 130 yellow bows around the base. It was the second time their sons have returned from Iraq. The bows were made by Miller's sister-in-law, Dawn Stabler, of Naugatuck.

About two yards from the bow-tacking duo, Susan Mennillo of Waterbury, her son, Joe, and friends filled dozens of yellow balloons with helium.

"Anyone want balloons," she said to waiting family members. "Come on. We want a field of yellow."

She wanted to be sure the Marines saw a field of yellow to show support for the troops.

Mennillo missed her son, Lance Cpl. Mark Mennillo, so much she got a Hartford advertising company to donate a billboard on Interstate 84 to welcome him home. The billboard, across from the Austin Road westbound on-ramp, has a picture of Mark Mennillo in dress uniform.

And, in addition to the billboard, PJ's Automotive on Watertown Avenue in Waterbury hung a dozen U.S. flags and one Marine Corps flag on utility poles along the road. At the entrance to PJ's is a race car with "welcome home Mark" written on it.

Mark Mennillo is close friends with Mike Palmer, who works at PJ's. Joe Mennillo also works there.

The 6th Motor Transport Marine Battalion was deployed in January. The battalion's 38 Marines trained at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for about a month before heading to Iraq, said Capt. Chris Purschke, the senior officer at the reserve center.

For eight months they were based at Al Asad Airfield, the second largest air base in Iraq which is about two hours west of Baghdad. The battalion delivered supplies of explosives, ammunition, food, water and troops to forward observation bases.

The unit returned to Camp Lejeune Sept. 9. Hurricane Ophelia kept the Marines from leaving the camp until Thursday night for a 15-hour bus ride home.

Sirens from a police escort wailed as the two charter buses neared the base, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

The buses stopped and one by one the Marines stepped out and into the arms of their families.

At least 30 members of the Miller family waited for Lance Cpl. Phillip Miller, 22. He was surprised by the large showing.

Besides his mother, Denise Miller, he was greeted by his grandfather, Richard Carn, and his step grandmother, Katherine Carn, both of Torrington; his other grandfather, Paul Miller and step grandmother, Margaret Miller, both of Naugatuck; his grandmother, Mary Jean Miller, of Naugatuck; his father, Paul Miller Jr., and stepmother, Joanne Miller, both of Naugatuck, and his sister, Rachel Miller, a senior at Naugatuck High School.

Phillip Miller's girlfriend, Jennifer Mann of Prospect, held a homemade poster that read "half my heart is back."

"I feel ecstatic about him coming home," said his father, Paul Miller Jr.

"We worried about him and thought about him every night," said Katherine Carn, adding her grandson gave orders "not to cry" when he arrived.

But the civilian Millers failed the "no cry" order. Paul Miller Jr. gave his son a big bear hug, melted in his arms and shed tears of joy. The Marine also shed a few tears.

"We are very happy to have him home, especially when hearing about all the bombings in Iraq. It was very disconcerting for us all," Joanne Miller said.

Phillip Miller and Mark Mennillo said there were a couple of close calls while delivering supplies. Both talked of finding roadside explosives and mines that ended up being safely detonated.

A member of their Marine reserve unit did get injured, though. Sgt. Jared Luce ran over a land mine and lost his legs and an arm.

"There were always risks while out there," said Mark Mennillo. But "it is really good to be home."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Every clime and place
Marines swap Africa's heat for stormy U.S. skies - and don't mind
By BRYAN MITCHELL, mitchellb@knews.com
September 17, 2005

After nearly eight months in a desert climate, the Marines of Delta Company were ready for a little rain when they returned home earlier this week.

They got a hurricane instead.

The 35 Knoxville-based Marine Corps reservists returned to the United States from the nation of Djibouti and spent their first days back shut in their barracks at Camp Lejeune, N.C., by Hurricane Ophelia as it soaked the North Carolina coast.

"No one complained because it didn't rain at all in Africa," said Sgt. Wayne Valentine. "We were all just glad to be back home."

The nearly three-dozen Marines who returned to Knoxville on Friday are members of the Marine Corps Reserve 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, Delta Company.

Family and friends filled the parking lot of the unit's Alcoa Highway installation early Friday morning and braved the month's first rain waiting for their return.

The Marines performed a final formation as a unit and then disbanded.

Another contingent of nearly 50 Delta Company Marines stationed in Iraq are due home in the next week. The returning Marines are the first in a wave of East Tennessee troops slated to be shipped home in the coming weeks and months.

Members of the Tennessee National Guard 278th Regimental Combat Team are set to return to Camp Shelby, Miss., shortly before Thanksgiving. The Army Reserve 844th Combat Engineer Battalion also is deployed to the Middle East and should return later this fall.

Earlier this year, there were an estimated 3,000 East Tennessee reservists serving abroad.

The reservists who returned Friday were stationed at Le Monier Barracks, which is home to France's largest foreign military installation. Djibouti, a Massachusetts-sized nation on the Horn of Africa, was a French colony until 1977.

The Marines provided security at the base and at the U.S. Embassy. In their free time, the Marines volunteered at local orphanages.

"It was a great experience," Valentine said. "It was good to give them a good impression of America and of what we were doing."

Valentine said he is due for some down time but ready for another deployment, including a tour in Iraq.

"If they call me," he said, "I'll be ready."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

3/2 returns after sustained combat in Iraq
2nd Marine Division
Story by Lance Cpl. Lucian Friel

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Sept. 16, 2005) -- Following seven months of sustained combat operations in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, Marines with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment returned to Camp Lejeune, greeted by the cheers of friends and families and the sight of flags and signs waving in the air.

The Marines were deployed in February to the lawless area of Al Qa’im, about 20 miles from the Iraqi-Syrian boarder, where they took part in three successful major offensive combat operations.

Operations Matador, Spear and Quick Strike were operations to clear areas and cities of a heavy insurgent threat.

Throughout their deployment the Marines conducted various operations in cities such as Karabilah, Sadah, Ubaydi, Haditha, Haqlayniah, Qa’im, Kubaysah and Husaybah, Iraq.

“I enjoyed this deployment because it was a very physical environment out there. We conducted a lot of missions, cleared a lot of cities, got rid of a lot of insurgents and accomplished a lot. I feel like I’ve grown as a person and I believe what we were doing out there was good for the citizens of Iraq,” explained Lance Cpl. Mark Thiry, 22, a Marine with Weapons Platoon, Company K from Chattanooga, Tenn.

The battalion’s mission in Iraq was clear-cut and their operations were in direct support.

“Our mission was to disrupt and interdict insurgent activity out here in the west. We disrupted their operations so they couldn’t push further east into Ramadi and other capital cities of Iraq,” explained Lt. Col. Tim Mundy, the battalion’s commanding officer.

As the Marines returned to the base they were thrilled to be reunited with their families, many of whom were carrying signs, flags and a few had donned Task Force 3/2 t-shirts.

One Marine in particular, explained his excitement to be back home in the United States with his friends and family.

“It feels great to be back. I can’t wait to relax and have a good time after this long deployment,” said Cpl. Emmett P. Shannon, 21, from Chieo, Calif., and a 2002 graduate of Paradise High School.

After the Marines of the battalion returned to Camp Lejeune, Mundy explained how he wants people to look back on his battalion’s deployment and he credited their successes to the Marines of the battalion.

“With the success of all our operations and day to day tasks out there I can never say enough about how great our young Marines and small unit leaders are when put to the test,” Mundy continued. “They stepped up and really surpassed my expectations. So I hope people look at our success out there and realize that it was done on the backs of those Marines.”

Ellie