thedrifter
02-25-06, 06:50 AM
Saturday, February 25, 2006
No cause for concern on this convoy
By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer
WINSLOW -- Marine Cpl. Allen Mason had been in Fallujah about five weeks when an enemy mortar shell exploded and launched shrapnel into his neck and legs.
Mason received the Purple Heart for the wounds he suffered in the attack, but at the time the now 24-year-old Mason, who grew up in Winslow, refused to let injuries get in the way of his duties.
"I never went into the hospital," he said when asked about the incident. "I received treatment right there, and they did what they needed to do, and I went right back to work."
Mason's close encounter with mortar fire happened during his first tour of duty in Iraq as part of the Second Battalion, Second Marines. He went back to Iraq for a second tour in July and returned home from that assignment earlier this month.
Friday he rode in the back of a convertible -- driven by former neighbor Terry Wilson -- as a police and fire escort led him through Waterville and Winslow on a route that incorporated some of the same roads the Winslow Family Fourth of July parade uses.
He is one of the latest soldiers to come home to central Maine, a young man only six years removed from high school -- Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield in Mason's case -- who expects to be a first-time father any day now.
His proud and relieved parents, Neal and Beverly Mason, who drove down to North Carolina to meet him when he returned, were with him as the "welcome home" drive readied to kick off from the Pizza Hut parking lot in Waterville.
Mason could sit in the car without fear of the vehicle hitting an improvised explosive device, or IED, on Kennedy Memorial Drive or any of the other local streets.
That was not the case in Iraq. Mason served as a driver for his battalion commander during his two stints in Fallujah. When his commanding officer needed to leave the marine compound, Mason took the wheel of an armored Humvee and hoped that he would not run over a booby-trapped road.
"Three blew up on us when we were over there," he said. "A couple of them were close to me, and the other one was a little distance from me. You just have to hope and pray and look for things that might give you a warning."
Mason worked a couple of years after graduating from MCI before he joined the Marines. He said a cousin from Albion who also signed up influenced his decision, but mostly, he said, he enlisted out of patriotism.
"I just always wanted to do something for my country," he said.
Mason's mother had to endure the fear of all parents who have a child serving in Iraq. In her case, though, she had to see a son return to a war zone after suffering wounds in his first deployment.
But the days of worry are over now.
"He came back with nothing -- thank God -- but medals," she said.
Allen Mason plans to return to civilian life next February when his military commitment ends. His goal is to get his electrician's license and establish his new family here in Maine.
Along the way he is sure to encounter pressures and obstacles, but they aren't likely to match what he faced in Fallujah. The day the mortar shell peppered him with shrapnel will forever be a vivid memory for him.
"I just thought that this definitely was going to happen again," he said in relating his mind set that day, "and that I had to get myself focused on what I needed to do to keep myself alive."
Colin Hickey -- 861-9205
chickey@centralmaine.com
Ellie
No cause for concern on this convoy
By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer
WINSLOW -- Marine Cpl. Allen Mason had been in Fallujah about five weeks when an enemy mortar shell exploded and launched shrapnel into his neck and legs.
Mason received the Purple Heart for the wounds he suffered in the attack, but at the time the now 24-year-old Mason, who grew up in Winslow, refused to let injuries get in the way of his duties.
"I never went into the hospital," he said when asked about the incident. "I received treatment right there, and they did what they needed to do, and I went right back to work."
Mason's close encounter with mortar fire happened during his first tour of duty in Iraq as part of the Second Battalion, Second Marines. He went back to Iraq for a second tour in July and returned home from that assignment earlier this month.
Friday he rode in the back of a convertible -- driven by former neighbor Terry Wilson -- as a police and fire escort led him through Waterville and Winslow on a route that incorporated some of the same roads the Winslow Family Fourth of July parade uses.
He is one of the latest soldiers to come home to central Maine, a young man only six years removed from high school -- Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield in Mason's case -- who expects to be a first-time father any day now.
His proud and relieved parents, Neal and Beverly Mason, who drove down to North Carolina to meet him when he returned, were with him as the "welcome home" drive readied to kick off from the Pizza Hut parking lot in Waterville.
Mason could sit in the car without fear of the vehicle hitting an improvised explosive device, or IED, on Kennedy Memorial Drive or any of the other local streets.
That was not the case in Iraq. Mason served as a driver for his battalion commander during his two stints in Fallujah. When his commanding officer needed to leave the marine compound, Mason took the wheel of an armored Humvee and hoped that he would not run over a booby-trapped road.
"Three blew up on us when we were over there," he said. "A couple of them were close to me, and the other one was a little distance from me. You just have to hope and pray and look for things that might give you a warning."
Mason worked a couple of years after graduating from MCI before he joined the Marines. He said a cousin from Albion who also signed up influenced his decision, but mostly, he said, he enlisted out of patriotism.
"I just always wanted to do something for my country," he said.
Mason's mother had to endure the fear of all parents who have a child serving in Iraq. In her case, though, she had to see a son return to a war zone after suffering wounds in his first deployment.
But the days of worry are over now.
"He came back with nothing -- thank God -- but medals," she said.
Allen Mason plans to return to civilian life next February when his military commitment ends. His goal is to get his electrician's license and establish his new family here in Maine.
Along the way he is sure to encounter pressures and obstacles, but they aren't likely to match what he faced in Fallujah. The day the mortar shell peppered him with shrapnel will forever be a vivid memory for him.
"I just thought that this definitely was going to happen again," he said in relating his mind set that day, "and that I had to get myself focused on what I needed to do to keep myself alive."
Colin Hickey -- 861-9205
chickey@centralmaine.com
Ellie