thedrifter
11-04-06, 05:31 AM
1/25th Devens Marines get tumultuous welcome home
By Don Eriksson, Staff Writer
Nashoba Publishing
Article Launched:11/03/2006 10:30:38 AM EST
DEVENS -- If anything since World War II or a Clint Eastwood movie has personified the word “veteran,” it’s the sight of a battalion of Marines marching in ranks behind the Corps’ colors and Old Glory.
On Oct. 26, 400 members of Headquarters and Service Company, Alpha Company and Weapons Company of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division marched onto home turf at Devens after seven months in Iraq.
However, not all of the Marines who left returned. The photographs of 11 killed in action in and around Fallujah stood silent guard in front of welcome-home signs and banners proclaiming that freedom isn’t free.
Families and friends began gathering in the parking lot at Givry Street and MacArthur Avenue at 6 a.m. Members of the press that included all regional newspapers and television stations were directed to their subjects by Public Information Officer Gunnery Sgt. Peter Walz, who periodically updated the gathering crowd on the progress of buses carrying the troops homeward.
One family that endured the three-hour wait was the Lauterbachs of Marstons Mills.
Robert Lauterbach’s namesake, Robert Jr., 25, has lived in Ayer for the past three years. Married one year ago, his wife, Sophia, and he enjoyed just two months of marriage when the call to war came.
”We had our wedding plans interrupted,” Sophia said, barely able to restrain smiles of anticipation. “We’ve been in touch pretty regularly though,” she said. “He has a birthday cake waiting for him he hasn’t seen.”
Lauterbach’s mom, Anne, his Auntie JoJo and cousin Cora, were also part of the group.
Robert Sr. is a Marine Vietnam veteran. His son served in Iraq as a platoon leader and data chief.
”Are we proud, yeah,” he said with severe understatement. “I hit the lottery with my son.”
”He’s an incredibly positive person,” said Sophia, the daughter of retired four-star Adm. William Flanagan. “He told me there is so much good going on over there that the media doesn’t show.”
Another family was the Gordon clan of Townsend. Their son, nephew and brother, Lance Cpl. Andrew Gordon, is a member of Weapons Company and the mobilized Marine Reserve.
Home-schooled by parents Sandra and Scott, 22-year-old Andrew joined the Marines in 2002 after finishing high school. His sisters, Amy and Dean -- the mother of Andrew’s niece, Toriana, who he’s never seen -- his Auntie Anne, Uncle John, Uncle Bruce, brother Brett, and grandmother Barbara were on hand.
”We’re very proud and happy he’s home,” said Sandra, a contributor to Letters to the Editor.
”I sent care packages to 40 Marines every month carrying donations from the Bread of Life Church in Westminster,” she said. “My son was in a HumVee directly behind the one in which three men were killed. My son made a memorial video to send to their families.”
Later, Andrew was to introduce one of his Marine brothers to his family. The hug he got from Sandra was no different than the one she had for her own son.
The 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment is headquartered on the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area. It is primarily a cold-weather infantry unit that trains throughout the Northeast. Training is also done in California, North Carolina and northern Norway.
Its companies are spread throughout the Northeast in New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which is where the battalion gets the name “New England’s Own.” Headquarters and Service Company along with Weapons Company are also at Devens. Company A is in Topsham, ME, Company B is in Londonderry, N.H., and Company C is in Plainville, Conn.
The mission is to provide trained combat and combat support personnel and units to augment and reinforce the active component in a time of war, national emergency and at other times as national security requires. The division can also be reconstituted if required.
The battalion was deployed to Fallujah in March 2006 after three months of counter-insurgency training. It conducted operations around Fallujah ranging from humanitarian relief to uncovering weapons caches and thwarting insurgency for seven months. Its 1,000 Marines returned to Camp Pendleton, Calif., earlier last week to do final processing and medical screening before returning back home.
Photographs and stories about the regiment’s tour can be seen at www.mfr.usmc.mil/4thmardiv/25thMar/1stBn.
The unit’s immediate task is to enjoy four days off before returning for more processing and the eventual demobilization of the reserve components.
Two other local Marines that were scheduled to return to Devens last week are Gunnery Sgt. Jesse Nelson of Pepperell, Pfc. Jeffrey Lilly, a reservist from Groton, and Lance Cpl. Eric Wales of Pepperell.
Members of the Marine Corps League, many of them Vietnam veterans, and Patriot Guard Riders, a nationwide band of motorcyclists that attends soldiers’ funerals to honor the dead and drown out possible insults of protesters, helped welcome the Marines home.
One rider, who admitted to being a veteran but wouldn’t provide his name, stood silent guard holding a flag for more than two hours as cheers ebbed and flowed while television-camera lights powered up.
Within a half-hour, most of the Marines had departed, many of them having their field packs carried for them by brothers and uncles.
The 11 Marines from the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines killed in action during the tour of duty are Capt. Brian S. Letendre, Indianapolis, Ind., killed on May 3; Sgt. Matthew J. Fenton, Little Ferry, N.J., also of Groton, killed on May 5; Cpl. Paul “Nick” King, Tyngsboro, killed on June 25; Lance Cpl. Kurt E. Dechen, Springfield, Vt., killed on Aug. 3; Lance Cpl. Michael D. Glover, Garden City, N.Y., killed on Aug. 16; Capt. John J. McKenna IV, Brooklyn, N.Y., killed on Aug. 16, Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson, Milford, Conn., killed on Aug. 25; HM2 Christopher G. “Doc” Walsh, Overland, Kan., killed on Sept. 4; Cpl. Jared M. Shoemaker, Tulsa, Okla., killed on Sept. 4; Lance Cpl. Eric P. Valdepenas, Seekonk, killed on Sept. 4; and Lance Cpl. Christpher B. Cosgrove, Cedar Knolls, N.J., killed on Oct. 1.
Ellie
By Don Eriksson, Staff Writer
Nashoba Publishing
Article Launched:11/03/2006 10:30:38 AM EST
DEVENS -- If anything since World War II or a Clint Eastwood movie has personified the word “veteran,” it’s the sight of a battalion of Marines marching in ranks behind the Corps’ colors and Old Glory.
On Oct. 26, 400 members of Headquarters and Service Company, Alpha Company and Weapons Company of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division marched onto home turf at Devens after seven months in Iraq.
However, not all of the Marines who left returned. The photographs of 11 killed in action in and around Fallujah stood silent guard in front of welcome-home signs and banners proclaiming that freedom isn’t free.
Families and friends began gathering in the parking lot at Givry Street and MacArthur Avenue at 6 a.m. Members of the press that included all regional newspapers and television stations were directed to their subjects by Public Information Officer Gunnery Sgt. Peter Walz, who periodically updated the gathering crowd on the progress of buses carrying the troops homeward.
One family that endured the three-hour wait was the Lauterbachs of Marstons Mills.
Robert Lauterbach’s namesake, Robert Jr., 25, has lived in Ayer for the past three years. Married one year ago, his wife, Sophia, and he enjoyed just two months of marriage when the call to war came.
”We had our wedding plans interrupted,” Sophia said, barely able to restrain smiles of anticipation. “We’ve been in touch pretty regularly though,” she said. “He has a birthday cake waiting for him he hasn’t seen.”
Lauterbach’s mom, Anne, his Auntie JoJo and cousin Cora, were also part of the group.
Robert Sr. is a Marine Vietnam veteran. His son served in Iraq as a platoon leader and data chief.
”Are we proud, yeah,” he said with severe understatement. “I hit the lottery with my son.”
”He’s an incredibly positive person,” said Sophia, the daughter of retired four-star Adm. William Flanagan. “He told me there is so much good going on over there that the media doesn’t show.”
Another family was the Gordon clan of Townsend. Their son, nephew and brother, Lance Cpl. Andrew Gordon, is a member of Weapons Company and the mobilized Marine Reserve.
Home-schooled by parents Sandra and Scott, 22-year-old Andrew joined the Marines in 2002 after finishing high school. His sisters, Amy and Dean -- the mother of Andrew’s niece, Toriana, who he’s never seen -- his Auntie Anne, Uncle John, Uncle Bruce, brother Brett, and grandmother Barbara were on hand.
”We’re very proud and happy he’s home,” said Sandra, a contributor to Letters to the Editor.
”I sent care packages to 40 Marines every month carrying donations from the Bread of Life Church in Westminster,” she said. “My son was in a HumVee directly behind the one in which three men were killed. My son made a memorial video to send to their families.”
Later, Andrew was to introduce one of his Marine brothers to his family. The hug he got from Sandra was no different than the one she had for her own son.
The 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment is headquartered on the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area. It is primarily a cold-weather infantry unit that trains throughout the Northeast. Training is also done in California, North Carolina and northern Norway.
Its companies are spread throughout the Northeast in New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which is where the battalion gets the name “New England’s Own.” Headquarters and Service Company along with Weapons Company are also at Devens. Company A is in Topsham, ME, Company B is in Londonderry, N.H., and Company C is in Plainville, Conn.
The mission is to provide trained combat and combat support personnel and units to augment and reinforce the active component in a time of war, national emergency and at other times as national security requires. The division can also be reconstituted if required.
The battalion was deployed to Fallujah in March 2006 after three months of counter-insurgency training. It conducted operations around Fallujah ranging from humanitarian relief to uncovering weapons caches and thwarting insurgency for seven months. Its 1,000 Marines returned to Camp Pendleton, Calif., earlier last week to do final processing and medical screening before returning back home.
Photographs and stories about the regiment’s tour can be seen at www.mfr.usmc.mil/4thmardiv/25thMar/1stBn.
The unit’s immediate task is to enjoy four days off before returning for more processing and the eventual demobilization of the reserve components.
Two other local Marines that were scheduled to return to Devens last week are Gunnery Sgt. Jesse Nelson of Pepperell, Pfc. Jeffrey Lilly, a reservist from Groton, and Lance Cpl. Eric Wales of Pepperell.
Members of the Marine Corps League, many of them Vietnam veterans, and Patriot Guard Riders, a nationwide band of motorcyclists that attends soldiers’ funerals to honor the dead and drown out possible insults of protesters, helped welcome the Marines home.
One rider, who admitted to being a veteran but wouldn’t provide his name, stood silent guard holding a flag for more than two hours as cheers ebbed and flowed while television-camera lights powered up.
Within a half-hour, most of the Marines had departed, many of them having their field packs carried for them by brothers and uncles.
The 11 Marines from the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines killed in action during the tour of duty are Capt. Brian S. Letendre, Indianapolis, Ind., killed on May 3; Sgt. Matthew J. Fenton, Little Ferry, N.J., also of Groton, killed on May 5; Cpl. Paul “Nick” King, Tyngsboro, killed on June 25; Lance Cpl. Kurt E. Dechen, Springfield, Vt., killed on Aug. 3; Lance Cpl. Michael D. Glover, Garden City, N.Y., killed on Aug. 16; Capt. John J. McKenna IV, Brooklyn, N.Y., killed on Aug. 16, Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson, Milford, Conn., killed on Aug. 25; HM2 Christopher G. “Doc” Walsh, Overland, Kan., killed on Sept. 4; Cpl. Jared M. Shoemaker, Tulsa, Okla., killed on Sept. 4; Lance Cpl. Eric P. Valdepenas, Seekonk, killed on Sept. 4; and Lance Cpl. Christpher B. Cosgrove, Cedar Knolls, N.J., killed on Oct. 1.
Ellie