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Local National Guard soldiers expected home today
By Rose Hooper
“Ye-hah! It’s about time! And you can put that in all caps!” Peggy Dawson of Tuckasegee said when she learned that her son, SFC Rod McNeil, and other members of the 210th N.C. National Guard unit are expected to return home today (Thursday), scheduled to arrive around 10 a.m. at the Asheville airport.
“I except there will be a lot of weeping women and screeching children,” said Dawson. “I feel light-hearted and way past excited.”
A community-wide welcome home celebration is planned for Saturday evening, June 12, beginning around 6:30 p.m. at Mark Watson Park.
“They’ve been in our prayers since the day they left,” said Jackson County Veterans Service Officer Russ Bauer, who called the returning soldiers “heroes.”
Thanks to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, there should be no shortage of flags to wave during the long-awaited homecoming.
Free flags are available at Bauer’s office, Sylva Insurance Agency and the Register of Deeds Office.
The William E. Dillard Post 104 of the American Legion will post the colors to begin the ceremony, followed by everyone singing God Bless America. Kim Shuler will sing a song she wrote especially for soldiers of the 210th.
A representative from the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and Sylva Vice Mayor Maurice Moody will welcome guard members.
The program will then be turned over to the American Legion, said organizer Betty Foxx.
After the ceremony the Sylva-based unit will parade down Main Street around 7 p.m.
They will then be transported to a private dinner with their families.
The 210th was deployed to active duty in March 2003 and had been expected to be released March 15. However, as violence in Iraq escalated, their tour of duty as military police in Baghdad was extended an additional three months.
They arrived last Friday (June 4) at Fort Dix, N. J.
“I’m sure this has been the most traumatic year of their life ... every day living with the feel and smell of death and the reality of war,” said Dawson.
“We can’t expect them to just come home and act normal. They’ll probably experience honest-to-goodness earned depression.”
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