thedrifter
05-01-08, 06:42 AM
Tallahassee greets troops home from Iraq
By Julian Pecquet • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER • May 1, 2008
A busload of young Marines came home to a hero’s welcome in Tallahassee Wednesday after a seven-month tour in Iraq.
While male family members watched stoically, mothers and girlfriends held their loved ones tightly after surviving on faith and tidbits of news for the past several months.
“I want to pick him up and hold him, but I don’t know if that’s possible,” Carol Davis said as she waited for the arrival of her son, Lance Cpl. Joshua T. Davis, 20. “It’s been a growing experience. It’s been difficult and challenging, but faith has pulled me through.”
The 26 Marines are with the 4th Marine Division’s Anti-Terrorism Battalion, E Company, 3rd platoon, a reserve unit based out of the Navy/Marine Reserve Center on Roberts Avenue. They left for training in North Carolina in June. From September until earlier this month, they were deployed in the western province of Al Anbar, Iraq’s largest and a hotbed of insurgent activity is cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi until the U.S. military began negotiating with tribal leaders in 2007.
The local Marines operated as a “military police-type” unit, said Maj. Ray Spaulding, commander of the Tallahassee reserve center, conducting operations such as base and convoy security.
“It was pretty calm the whole time we were there,” said Lce. Cpl. Joshua T. Davis, 20.
Two other Marines came home early, Spaulding said — one because of an imminent death in the family, the other because of non-hostile leg injuries.
Diana Bixler, Davis’ girlfriend for the past three years, said she tried not to worry for Davis when he was away.
“There was nothing I could do about it,” she said, adding that they were in touch “three or four times a week.”
Davis’ father, a Marine veteran, said he was amazed by the technology that made staying in touch much easier.
“The communication has really changed,” he said.
A half-dozen motorcycle riders with the Patriot Guard Riders showed up on their shining Harleys. They formed an honor guard of raised flags for the Marines as they got off the bus.
Tallahassee Ride Captain Mike Donohue said many riders were Vietnam War veterans who were ill-treated 40 years ago and want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. While the group was formed to prevent protesters from disrupting military funerals, Donohue said, it has evolved over the years into a national organization that helps send troops off and welcome them back.
“One of our mottoes is ‘standing for those who stood for us’,” he said. “Regardless of what you think about the war, these guys are brave men. They’re heroes.”
The riders were there to accompany Lance Cpl. Christopher Meinhardt, 20, to a community celebration at the Wakulla County Courthouse in Crawfordville.
“We’re absolutely proud of him,” said his mother, Melanie Meinhardt, who wore a Marine Corps necklace. The escort “just lets him know that we support them.”
Other families had less grandiose plans for their sons’ first evening home from the war.
Lance Cpl. Richard Szymanski, 19, was looking to a quiet dinner out with family.
“He wants to go home, shower and go get sushi,” said his mother, Susan, who came dressed in a USMC shirt. “That’s not something they have in Iraq.”
Not all the people in the greeting party knew the returning Marines personally.
Bob James, a Korean War Navy veteran and member of Lake Ella’s American Legion Post 13, drove up in a SUV decorated with a bumper sticker that read “My grandson is a Marine.” He said his grandson joined the Marines a year and a half ago and is now deployed in Okinawa.
“I’m a vet. Been there, done that,” James said. “I figured if he could do that, I could do something for him.”
Ellie
By Julian Pecquet • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER • May 1, 2008
A busload of young Marines came home to a hero’s welcome in Tallahassee Wednesday after a seven-month tour in Iraq.
While male family members watched stoically, mothers and girlfriends held their loved ones tightly after surviving on faith and tidbits of news for the past several months.
“I want to pick him up and hold him, but I don’t know if that’s possible,” Carol Davis said as she waited for the arrival of her son, Lance Cpl. Joshua T. Davis, 20. “It’s been a growing experience. It’s been difficult and challenging, but faith has pulled me through.”
The 26 Marines are with the 4th Marine Division’s Anti-Terrorism Battalion, E Company, 3rd platoon, a reserve unit based out of the Navy/Marine Reserve Center on Roberts Avenue. They left for training in North Carolina in June. From September until earlier this month, they were deployed in the western province of Al Anbar, Iraq’s largest and a hotbed of insurgent activity is cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi until the U.S. military began negotiating with tribal leaders in 2007.
The local Marines operated as a “military police-type” unit, said Maj. Ray Spaulding, commander of the Tallahassee reserve center, conducting operations such as base and convoy security.
“It was pretty calm the whole time we were there,” said Lce. Cpl. Joshua T. Davis, 20.
Two other Marines came home early, Spaulding said — one because of an imminent death in the family, the other because of non-hostile leg injuries.
Diana Bixler, Davis’ girlfriend for the past three years, said she tried not to worry for Davis when he was away.
“There was nothing I could do about it,” she said, adding that they were in touch “three or four times a week.”
Davis’ father, a Marine veteran, said he was amazed by the technology that made staying in touch much easier.
“The communication has really changed,” he said.
A half-dozen motorcycle riders with the Patriot Guard Riders showed up on their shining Harleys. They formed an honor guard of raised flags for the Marines as they got off the bus.
Tallahassee Ride Captain Mike Donohue said many riders were Vietnam War veterans who were ill-treated 40 years ago and want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. While the group was formed to prevent protesters from disrupting military funerals, Donohue said, it has evolved over the years into a national organization that helps send troops off and welcome them back.
“One of our mottoes is ‘standing for those who stood for us’,” he said. “Regardless of what you think about the war, these guys are brave men. They’re heroes.”
The riders were there to accompany Lance Cpl. Christopher Meinhardt, 20, to a community celebration at the Wakulla County Courthouse in Crawfordville.
“We’re absolutely proud of him,” said his mother, Melanie Meinhardt, who wore a Marine Corps necklace. The escort “just lets him know that we support them.”
Other families had less grandiose plans for their sons’ first evening home from the war.
Lance Cpl. Richard Szymanski, 19, was looking to a quiet dinner out with family.
“He wants to go home, shower and go get sushi,” said his mother, Susan, who came dressed in a USMC shirt. “That’s not something they have in Iraq.”
Not all the people in the greeting party knew the returning Marines personally.
Bob James, a Korean War Navy veteran and member of Lake Ella’s American Legion Post 13, drove up in a SUV decorated with a bumper sticker that read “My grandson is a Marine.” He said his grandson joined the Marines a year and a half ago and is now deployed in Okinawa.
“I’m a vet. Been there, done that,” James said. “I figured if he could do that, I could do something for him.”
Ellie