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thedrifter
10-09-09, 09:35 AM
West Michigan marine returns home


GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - U.S. Marine Sergeant Nathan DeWeerd is now safely home from the war in Afghanistan.

He stepped off the plane at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids quoting "The Wizard of Oz."
"Dorothy had it right," said Sergeant DeWeerd. "There is no place like home."

Dozens of friends and relatives from Muskegon and Ludington joined DeWeerd's family at the airport to welcome him home Thursday night. This was his first deployment to a war zone in his 11 year military career. His family says they worried about the danger he was facing.

"There were those nights and days," admits wife April DeWeerd.

"I hear, 'In Afghanistan, eight soldiers killed,' and you think 'Is it mine?'" says DeWeerd's mother, Sheryl. "You don't get a knock on the door and you relax a little bit."

In August, U.S. Army Corporal Nick Roush of Middleville came home from Afghanistan in a flag covered coffin.

Sheryl DeWeerd says she watches news stories about soldiers killed in action with a mixture of grief, fear and relief.

"[I] feel for the parents, but [I'm] so thankful it isn't my son," she says. "That's a selfish feeling but so many parents are going through it every day."


The safe return of Sergeant Nathan DeWeerd doesn't end the fear and anxiety for his family. His brother, Ryan, is also a sergeant in the U.S. Marines. He's in Iraq.

"They both wanted to do it and enjoy doing it so you have got to respect that," says Sheryl DeWeerd.

"It's an honor for me," says Nathan. "My brother and I give so others don't have to."

The next duty assignment for Sergeant Nathan DeWeerd is in Arizona. His brother is scheduled to come home from his third deployment to Iraq in November.

Ellie