New Ken's 307th Co. returns to heroes' welcome
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Sgt. Fredrich Ramien of Trafford hugs his son Jacob, 7, Saturday in New Kensington after a year in Afghanistan with the 307th Military Police Company.
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It took eight years, but the people of the New Kensington area finally got a chance to welcome home the 307th Military Police Company on Saturday.
The Army Reserve company, based in New Kensington, deployed to Iraq for a year in 2003 and 2004. But its soldiers came back in staggered groups then, and the town could never pull together a time for one large ceremony.
"We tried, but it didn't work out" in 2004, said Sam Lombardo, a local beer distributor who helped organize Saturday's gathering. "We wanted to make up for that."
And boy did they.
After a year spent in Afghanistan during this deployment, the 170-member company would be coming home all at once, with 103 of them from the New Kensington area told they would get a nice welcome, with an escort into town and a short ceremony in the local high school gym.
PG VIDEO"We didn't expect this," said Capt. Brandy Toth, 34, the company commander from Wintersville, Ohio, who had 14 family and friends, including her two young daughters, in the audience. "It's overwhelming to say the least."
The soldiers came in from Fort Dix, N.J. When they exited Route 28, it wasn't just one squad car, it was more than 50 fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles, lights and sirens on full blast, escorting them in.
"I feel like a rock star!" some of the soldiers exclaimed when they saw the escort, Capt. Toth said.
Then, as they approached Valley High School, two New Kensington and Arnold fire department ladder trucks formed an archway over Route 56 near the entrance to the school for them to pass under.
When they marched into the gymnasium, more than 1,000 local officials, family, friends, veterans, the Valley High School band and chorus, and concerned residents filled nearly every available space, creating a deafening roar of excitement with everyone, young and old, waving American flags when the first soldier popped through the doors.
Coming through the gym doors to that roar "was emotional to see everyone actually cared," said Sgt. Shane Rebel, 24, of Pittsburgh, who was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries he got in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Afghanistan.
The return was special for a lot of reasons.
For one, given the promises of an end to the large scale troop deployments in Afghanistan, "we hope it's the last time they have to go there," said Paul Toth, Capt. Toth's father, who wore the same black baseball hat that said "Proud Army Dad" every day since his daughter deployed last year as a daily reminder she was still serving overseas.
First Published February 5, 2012 12:00 am
