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thedrifter
10-26-06, 07:01 AM
Plainville-based Marines return home

Thursday, October 26, 2006

BY KURT MOFFETT
Republican-American

HARTFORD -- Lisa Szczygiel-Durante of Thomaston could hardly contain herself as she waited for her son, Lance Cpl. Colt Szczygiel, to arrive at the Hartford Armory on Wednesday night.

Szczygiel was one of about 150 Marine reservists returning from seven months in Fallujah, Iraq. They belong to Company C, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division, based in Plainville.

The unit finally arrived in the armory's gymnasium at 9:45 p.m., but families had been waiting since around 7. The time of the soldiers' arrival seemed to change by the minute, increasing the anxiety of the families waiting for them.

"I'm going to pass out if they don't get out here," Szczygiel-Durante said at 9:40 p.m. as she jumped in place with nervous excitement.

Finally, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced what she called the magic words everyone was waiting to hear: "Welcome home." The roar of the hundreds of people who were there echoed off the walls.

After a few minutes, a moment of silence was held for the soldiers who had been killed in action. Company C lost four members. One, Jordan C. Pierson of Milford, was a close friend of Szczygiel.

When the soldiers were relieved of duty, chaos ensued, as soldiers and family members tried to find one another. It took several minutes for Szczygiel-Durante, who was holding a sign over her head with the family name on it, to find her son.

"No words. Thank God," Szczygiel-Durante said after she finally got to hug her son. "We've been blessed with a wonderful son and a wonderful man."

Szczygiel, 20, said, despite the loss of his friend, his experience in Iraq was "not as bad as I thought it would be. It was a good opportunity."

Alex Halkovic, of Beacon Falls, and his wife, Merianne, and oldest daughter, Chrissy, were there to greet their son and brother, David, also a lance corporal. Alex Halkovic said he watched the news regularly while his 23-year-old son was in Iraq.

"I watched it because I wanted to know what they were going through, rather than turning my back on it," he said. "I wanted to understand what my son was doing and hopefully not see any bad news."

Halkovic said the toughest part was when he would receive no communication from his son for an extended period of time.

"When you don't hear from him for two weeks, that's when you really start to worry," he said.

Company C was one of 11 Northeast-based Marine units with 1,000 reservists that returned home this week. They spent the majority of their time in and around Fallujah, a city 43 miles west of Baghdad that has suffered extensive damage from the war.

Lynne Waninger, also of Beacon Falls, said her son, Lance Corporal Vance Picard Jr., spent a week in the hospital after a blast knocked him out of a vehicle. She said her son told her he passed out and hurt his back and legs, but the injuries were not serious enough to send him home.

"I know it had to be nerve-wracking," she said of the Marines' experiences. "All those men, I can't imagine what they've gone through."

Ellie