The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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December 3, 2008

‘We are more than soldiers’

Hundreds gather in Glen Jean to bid troops farewell

Matthew Hill

GLEN JEAN — Hundreds of local patriots bid a bittersweet farewell to some of their finest and bravest Wednesday at the Glen Jean National Guard Armory as the C Troop 1/150th “Comanches” and D Company 230th “Dragons” suited up for their latest mission in defense of the American experience.

“We will be here waiting for you and awaiting your safe return,” said a tearful Crystal Walker, representing the Family Readiness Group. Walker wept as she also read a poem titled “I Am.”

“Thank you so much for what you’re doing for your country. We appreciate it so much,” she added, to thunderous applause.

Col. Ronald L. Scarbro, a retired Army veteran of the Vietnam War, urged the soldiers to keep in contact with their loved ones at home, bearing in mind the enormous responsibility borne by those family members.

“Stay in communication with your loved ones as often as you can. Taking time to sit and write a letter (when Scarbro was in the Army) gave me the courage to tell them what they mean to me,” Scarbro emphasized. “We are more than soldiers. We are a family. God speed. Have pride.”

Another retired Army colonel and Vietnam War veteran, William Aldridge, asked that a pair of soldiers in attendance take the symbolic flags of the 1/150th and 230th units around the room and allow the other soldiers to touch them as a sign of unity.

“Those flags will be planted firmly in the sands of Iraq,” declared Aldridge, who described himself as “an Army brat and proud of it.” Wednesday’s ceremony, he recalled, is an American tradition that stems back to 1776.

“A man would saddle up, kiss his wife goodbye and go do his mission,” Aldridge said.

He added that, while the departure ceremony is difficult, it is a day the soldiers will remember until the day they die. “You’ll always remember that last talk with your child, that last talk with your wife.”

Having left with a sense of pride, the return ceremony “is one of the sweetest things ever,” Aldridge asserted.

“Who volunteers for this? Someone who feels the calling,” he said as he tapped his heart with his right hand.

A letter from Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., was read by one of his staffers “on behalf of a grateful state and nation.”

In a fitting tribute to Wednesday’s event in Glen Jean, a soldier shook hands with a civilian he knew and thank-ed him for coming. “Thank you for going,” the man replied.

— E-mail:

mhill@register-herald.com

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