thedrifter
04-26-07, 11:18 AM
Area Marines returning to cheers, tears
Thursday, April 26, 2007
CHRONICLE NEWS SERVICE
West Michigan Marine Reserves returning from Iraq can expect a warm homecoming and more than a few tears when they return Sunday.
For seven months, members of the Grand Rapids-based Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines have been stationed in dangerous Anbar province.
An estimated 1,300 friends and family are expected to greet the Marines.
"It's been a long time," said Lt. Col. Joseph Rossi, who coordinates family assistance for the company. Rossi said the arrival is limited to friends and family of the Marines.
Four Marines in the company were killed in Iraq, including Pfc. Brett Witteveen of Shelby, who was killed Feb. 18 by a roadside bomb while on patrol near Fallujah.
It was a costly tour for all the companies that comprise the Michigan-based battalion. All told, 22 Marines were killed and more than 20 wounded.
Grandville resident Richard Szymanski, 55, said it has been a hard separation from his son, Cpl. Rick Szymanski, 22.
Szymanski suffered a concussion from a roadside bomb in late October, his father said, and was evacuated to a hospital in Iraq.
Szymanski said he got a call from his son at the hospital to let them know he was all right.
"He told me, 'I can't think very straight, but I think I am all right,' " Szymanski said.
Szymanski said he and his wife, Sue, sometimes did not hear from their son for three or four weeks.
"We wouldn't know if he was all right, but we would understand that we can't always get a call from him."
Even well-intended questions of concern from acquaintances provoked anxiety, he said.
"Sometimes it gets to the point where you need privacy and you need to think. Sometimes we would just watch on television and pray at home.
"We wouldn't even go to church."
The company was assigned security duty in a 28-square-mile area southwest of Fallujah along the Euphrates River. They conducted foot patrols, searched houses for insurgent fighters and weapons caches and staffed entry points to the city.
Despite reports of ongoing violence in Iraq, Rossi said Marines reported increased success in their attempts at quelling the insurgency.
"I got the sense throughout that they encountered an increased amount of support from the residents of Fallujah, including the sheiks and leaders in the Sunni community," Rossi said.
Ellie
Thursday, April 26, 2007
CHRONICLE NEWS SERVICE
West Michigan Marine Reserves returning from Iraq can expect a warm homecoming and more than a few tears when they return Sunday.
For seven months, members of the Grand Rapids-based Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines have been stationed in dangerous Anbar province.
An estimated 1,300 friends and family are expected to greet the Marines.
"It's been a long time," said Lt. Col. Joseph Rossi, who coordinates family assistance for the company. Rossi said the arrival is limited to friends and family of the Marines.
Four Marines in the company were killed in Iraq, including Pfc. Brett Witteveen of Shelby, who was killed Feb. 18 by a roadside bomb while on patrol near Fallujah.
It was a costly tour for all the companies that comprise the Michigan-based battalion. All told, 22 Marines were killed and more than 20 wounded.
Grandville resident Richard Szymanski, 55, said it has been a hard separation from his son, Cpl. Rick Szymanski, 22.
Szymanski suffered a concussion from a roadside bomb in late October, his father said, and was evacuated to a hospital in Iraq.
Szymanski said he got a call from his son at the hospital to let them know he was all right.
"He told me, 'I can't think very straight, but I think I am all right,' " Szymanski said.
Szymanski said he and his wife, Sue, sometimes did not hear from their son for three or four weeks.
"We wouldn't know if he was all right, but we would understand that we can't always get a call from him."
Even well-intended questions of concern from acquaintances provoked anxiety, he said.
"Sometimes it gets to the point where you need privacy and you need to think. Sometimes we would just watch on television and pray at home.
"We wouldn't even go to church."
The company was assigned security duty in a 28-square-mile area southwest of Fallujah along the Euphrates River. They conducted foot patrols, searched houses for insurgent fighters and weapons caches and staffed entry points to the city.
Despite reports of ongoing violence in Iraq, Rossi said Marines reported increased success in their attempts at quelling the insurgency.
"I got the sense throughout that they encountered an increased amount of support from the residents of Fallujah, including the sheiks and leaders in the Sunni community," Rossi said.
Ellie