Soldiers return to a hero’s welcome

By Anastasia Harbuck

Published: May 5, 2008

Speechless.
1st Lt. Tamara Brewer couldn’t begin to put into words what she was feeling Friday when she arrived home with Eufaula’s 1103rd.
She was feeling so many emotions at once - a sense of accomplishment at seeing her fellow guardsmen arrive home safe and sound and joy at holding her son, Greyson, in her arms again after a long year in Iraq.
“There’s no feeling to compare,” said Brewer, standing outside Eufaula’s Farmers Market pavilion where the two buses had delivered the 1103rd into the eager arms of their families.
For someone who’s never been to a soldier homecoming, the first thing he or she will notice is the tension. It hangs over the waiting crowd of friends and family members as thick as humidity.
“The tension’s so thick, you can cut it,” said Denise Crowell of her father’s homecoming 18 years ago when he returned home from the Gulf War.
On Friday, Denise’s family was awaiting the arrival of her brother, Ricky Beck. Like his late father, Ricky too serves in the 1103rd.
“That’s my daddy!” Ricky’s young daughter, Lezlee, proudly exclaimed after her father’s arrival.
Before the 1103rd buses pulled up alongside the farmer’s market, Lezlee was dancing in anticipation under the pavilion. Her excitement was shared by everyone waiting for the soldiers’ return. Children and grownups sprang up at the sound of every siren, peering up and down Broad Street.
When the buses finally pulled into view, onlookers shouted and waved to the guardsmen sitting at the bus windows then made a mad scramble around to Orange Street where the buses were unloading. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters threw themselves at family members getting off the buses.
For the Tyler family, it was hard to tell where one Tyler began and the other ended, they were hugging each other so tightly. Their father, Tom, went off to Iraq with the 1103rd last May, but Friday was engaged in a happy dog-pile with his wife, Patricia, and two kids, Shelby and Joshua, after stepping off the bus.
John Hagler’s arms were spilling over with grandchildren as he tried to balance granddaughter Jaci and grandson Hunter in each hand while Corann Grant held godson Kennyen Dumas and son Cameron Grant close.
“Great!” said Corann. “It just feels great!”
Happiness for the guardsmen and women turned to admiration as they stood at attention in the pavilion for a welcome-home ceremony by Mayor Jay Jaxon. Pastor and POW Elzo Bevan said the opening prayer during the ceremony. The 1103rd’s return home marked the 63rd anniversary of his release from German captivity.
“We know something about the joy of coming home,” said Bevan.
After the ceremony, the guardsmen and women went their separate ways with their families and a bunch of yellow balloons floated up into the blue sky - welcoming home Eufaula’s 1103rd after a long year away from home.