thedrifter
05-22-07, 08:00 AM
Company helps say thanks to troops
BY PAT FERRIER
PatFerrier@coloradoan.com
Josh Kuykendall got a banner homecoming when he returned last week from seven months in Iraq.
The 2005 Poudre High graduate, serving in the al Anbar province with a Marines amphibious assault battalion, was welcomed home with a surprise barbecue at Fossil Creek Park and a 2-foot by 5-foot banner that read, "Welcome Home Josh. Thank you. God Bless," and included the Marine insignia.
The banner was the work of Steve Bohn and Signs First, 5112 S. College Ave.
Bohn provides free welcome home banners to the families of any returning service member, even soldiers, Marines and sailors coming home from basic training.
Bohn, who served in the Army in Germany just as the Vietnam War was getting under way, remembers the less-than-warm homecoming Vietnam veterans got.
He started the sign program to make sure the new generation of veterans got a proper homecoming.
"We wanted to do something; it's the least we can do," Bohn said.
The effort touched Kuykendall.
"It's really cool that people get together and support the troops ... that people still care," Kuykendall said. "It was awesome."
Kuykendall's sister, Katie Kuykendall, contacted Bohn after reading about the free welcome home signs.
"It gave us a way to show him how excited we were to have him come back," she said. "It showed him there are other people out there that appreciate what he did."
Knowing the banner came from a veteran "meant that much more to him. He thought it was really neat."
Ellie
BY PAT FERRIER
PatFerrier@coloradoan.com
Josh Kuykendall got a banner homecoming when he returned last week from seven months in Iraq.
The 2005 Poudre High graduate, serving in the al Anbar province with a Marines amphibious assault battalion, was welcomed home with a surprise barbecue at Fossil Creek Park and a 2-foot by 5-foot banner that read, "Welcome Home Josh. Thank you. God Bless," and included the Marine insignia.
The banner was the work of Steve Bohn and Signs First, 5112 S. College Ave.
Bohn provides free welcome home banners to the families of any returning service member, even soldiers, Marines and sailors coming home from basic training.
Bohn, who served in the Army in Germany just as the Vietnam War was getting under way, remembers the less-than-warm homecoming Vietnam veterans got.
He started the sign program to make sure the new generation of veterans got a proper homecoming.
"We wanted to do something; it's the least we can do," Bohn said.
The effort touched Kuykendall.
"It's really cool that people get together and support the troops ... that people still care," Kuykendall said. "It was awesome."
Kuykendall's sister, Katie Kuykendall, contacted Bohn after reading about the free welcome home signs.
"It gave us a way to show him how excited we were to have him come back," she said. "It showed him there are other people out there that appreciate what he did."
Knowing the banner came from a veteran "meant that much more to him. He thought it was really neat."
Ellie