Delaware Guard Members Return Home - New Castle, DE

Thursday, November 25, 2010

On Thursday morning, the 238th Aviation Regiment of the Delaware Army National Guard returned home from serving a year in Afghanistan. This unit included both Lt. Tom Emerson IV and CW2 Chris Hammond from Citizens' Hose Company. Welcome home!!!! The News Journal featured the following story in today's paper . . . . http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101126/NEWS02/11260322/Guard-members-return-to-loved-ones When 8-month-old Macie Emerson went to sleep, she would listen to the voice of her daddy, who recorded himself reading a book for her. This week, she rested in his arms for the first time since she was a newborn. First Lt. Thomas Emerson IV, of Smyrna, returned from Afghanistan. He had last seen his child when he came home for leave. He arrived home in time for Macie's birth but had to go back to Afghanistan two weeks later. On Thursday, Emerson's wife, Miranda, embraced her husband, putting the baby in his arms as he stood in uniform. The Delaware Army National Guard's 238th Aviation Regiment came home in time to eat turkey and watch football. The group left the First State about a year ago. "We have a lot to be thankful for," Miranda Emerson said. "I couldn't ask for anything more." The Thanksgiving Day ceremony at the Delaware Air National Guard base in New Castle was attended by Gov. Jack Markell, U.S. Rep. Mike Castle and U.S. Sen. Chris Coons. Marching behind a bagpipe band, the airmen entered the hangar through a door with a giant U.S. flag hung between two ladder trucks. When the bagpipes stopped playing, the regiment stood stoically in the middle of the room. They were surrounded by hundreds of family members and friends who sat in neat rows on each side. A group of veterans, many from the Vietnam War, lined the wall of the room holding large U.S. flags. After prayer and a few speeches, Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, adjutant general of the Delaware National Guard, told the regiment it could relax a bit but left it in formation. Then, he did something that doesn't usually happen. He allowed the airmen's loved ones to join in the formation. There were long embraces, parents who scooped up children, and tears. "I don't think there's anything I could say that's not in the embodiment of the faces I see today," Markell said in a brief speech. Members of the regiment were responsible for flying personnel and equipment transport missions in the mountains of Afghanistan during a yearlong mobilization. Everyone returned home safely. Between them, the airmen shared many honors, including two Bronze Stars, 14 combat action medals and 34 air medals. For more than half of the regiment, this was their second deployment. Emerson, a Black Hawk pilot, was surrounded by at least a dozen family members and friends after the airmen were released to go home. His baby daughter wore a shirt that said "My Daddy's my hero" on the front and had "Emerson" embroidered on the back. The T-shirt was a gift from his sister, Kristy Hankins. Emerson's father-in-law flew in from Kansas to be there. After all the family members had their hugs and kisses, several men from the Smyrna Citizens Hose Fire Company stepped up to shake Emerson's hand. They had brought a ladder truck out to hang the big flag that the airmen marched under. "Thank you for coming out here on Thanksgiving," Emerson told them, smiling. Back home in Smyrna, the family had tied yellow ribbons to the trees and hung a big banner emblazoned with the words "welcome home" outside the Emerson homestead. An aunt and a cousin were among those at home preparing a feast for 20 people or so. Emerson is part of a big family who grew up in Smyrna. He's planning to build a house there. His father said he was glad to have his son home safely. "It means the world to have him home," Thomas Emerson III said. Jean Everage, an aunt, lives next door to Emerson. She and her husband, Sam, consider Emerson one of their own. They had kept in contact for the last year through the Internet, but Aunt Jean was eager to get a hug. The community is close-knit, Everage said, and it rallied to support Emerson and Chief Warrant Officer Chris Hammond, who also returned home Thursday. "The support in Smyrna is just amazing," Everage said. "We are always there for each other."

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