Jun 1, 2009 4:32 pm US/Central
Guard Members Return As Heroes
ROBBINS, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Cpl. Robert Smith was among the Illinois Army National Guard members who returned home Monday from Afghanistan.
CBS
There were hugs all around today in south suburban Robbins.
Dozens of Illinois Army National Guard soldiers just back from Afghanistan received warm welcomes from loved ones.
And who could blame them? As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, these brave men and women have been gone for one year.
With fire trucks and patriot guard motorcycle riders leading the way, three busloads of Illinois Army National Guard soldiers were waved into the Crestwood Armory by well-wishers today.
Just minutes after they got off the buses, they paraded into the armory, where they were greeted with an unrestrained roar of approval.
Then 90 soldiers who had just spent the past nine months fighting in Afghanistan lined up for a final salute and a cheer.
Next, the men of Bravo Battalion were dismissed into the arms of their loved ones for the first time since last year.
"It's a wonderful feeling," one member said.
"It's unbelievable," Cpl. Robert Smith said. "This is great."
But that great feeling is tempered for the men who make up Bravo Battalion because they came home without two of their brothers. Sgt. Joshua Harris and Staff Sgt. Jason Vasquez were killed by a roadside bomb.
Smith grew up with Harris.
"It's difficult because the last thing I said to him was that I'd see him when we got back," he said. "And now I'm not. It's rough."
It's especially rough for the two soldiers' moms. Their boys died together in Afghanistan. Monday in the armory they clung together, united by a bond no parent wants.
But they were also united in the desire to be there today.
"I had to be here for my son," said Lisa Perez, mother of Jason Vasquez. "He would want us to be here."
"I brought him home,"
Millie Harris-Hickey, Joshua Harris' mother, said. "Even if it was a short distance, I brought him home."
And she did that by getting on the back of a motorcycle for the first time in years to personally escort the brothers in arms he left home with nine months ago back home for hopefully the final time.
In addition to the two members of the Bravo Battalion who lost their lives, 10 other Illinois Army National Guard members have died in Afghanistan in the past nine months.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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