Local soldier returns from Iraq, meets infant son for first time

06:59 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 22, 2009

By Hayley Kappes / The Daily News


GALVESTON, Texas — Gunnery Sgt. Matt Lockwood held his son, Jackson, for the first time Monday.

Jackson was born Aug. 12 while Lockwood was nearing the end of a 10-month deployment to Iraq with Galveston’s U.S. Marine Corp Reserve Unit.

Lockwood watched video of his son’s birth, but he said it didn’t come close to holding the infant in his arms for the first time, after stepping off the bus at Fort Point’s reserve training center off Ferry Road.

Lockwood, of La Marque, was among the Marines of Galveston’s reserve unit who returned from a third deployment to Iraq. All 52 members of the Bravo unit deployed to Iraq returned home safely.

“It was surreal seeing Jackson in person for the first time and holding him,” Lockwood said. “This was definitely worth the wait.”

Mike Lockwood, Matt Lockwood’s father, was in charge of videotaping his son’s homecoming.

“This was Matt’s third deployment, and I still cry every time he comes home,” Mike Lockwood said. “I joked with him and asked if he could tell Jackson was his son. He looks just like Matt when he was a baby.”

A Web camera was set up in the delivery room so Lockwood could watch it live, but the online feed malfunctioned about 30 minutes before Jackson was delivered, Shawna Lockwood, his wife, said.

Shawna Lockwood said she chatted with her husband regularly through the Internet service Skype.

“Seeing him hold Jackson for the first time, words just can’t express that feeling I got watching them,” Shawna Lockwood said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Patriot Guard Riders escorted the two buses filled with Marines from William P. Hobby Airport in Houston to the reserve training center. Galveston Police Department squad cars joined the escort at the county’s north boundary line.

People camped out in lawn chairs or truck beds on the southbound sidewalk of Broadway, from 59th Street all the way to the intersection with Seawall Boulevard. Onlookers honked horns and waved U.S. flags as the entourage made its way past.

“We had nothing like this when we came home from Vietnam,” Jerry Turner, a former Army chief warrant officer, said at the homecoming.

Turner is a member of the Patriot Guard Riders who escorted the Marines from the airport. He welcomes home returning troops in honor of their sacrifice, Turner said.

After greeting loved ones, the Marines were called into formation and received honorary ribbons made by members of the Marine Corp League. Some Marines tried to keep a straight face as spouses or children pinned the ribbons to their uniform and sneaked in an extra hug or kiss.

Galveston Mayor Pro Tem Danny Weber offered a short address to the Marines, welcoming them home. Members of the VFW Post 880 thanked Marines after they were dismissed.

Matt said he is ready to take some time off and reconnect with his family.

One of the first things the family plans to do is visit College Station this Saturday to watch the Aggies play the University of Alabama-Birmingham in football. Matt graduated from Texas A&M University in 2007.

“I took my class ring with me and wore it the entire time I was in Iraq,” he said.
This story is available through KHOU, Ch. 11's partnership with The Galveston County Daily News.

Ellie