E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSSoldiers returning home for their two weeks of R&R will now be routed through the Atlanta airport, ending a nearly greeting program run by volunteers at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.
By Charles Hadlock
NBC News
DALLAS -- A volunteer program that has welcomed home thousands of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan at the Dallas-Fort Worth International airport has come to an end. The last flight bringing soldiers home for two weeks of rest and recuperation landed Wednesday, greeted by a cheering crowd.
As the drawdown of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan continues, the military is consolidating future R&R flights to the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where the general public will not have access to greet returning soldiers.
The end of the flights is bittersweet for Donna Cranston, the volunteer coordinator for DFW’s “Welcome Home a Hero” program.
“These troops are sacrificing and serving for us and I want them to know we are grateful,” said Cranston. “The other side is, it means we don’t have as many troops that are deployed. And that’s a good thing.”
Every day for the last nine years, a sort of patriotic flash mob has gathered at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Like clockwork, people from all over north Texas arrived at Gate B23 carrying signs, banners, balloons and, of course, American flags.
They stood quietly in a line near baggage claim until they saw the first soldiers emerge from their long plane ride from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Suddenly, the crowd erupted into applause and cheers. A boom box played John Philip Sousa marching music. The soldiers, who were still bleary-eyed from a 24-hour flight, seemed pleasantly stunned by it all.
Volunteers have welcomed home soldiers from each of the 2,700 chartered R&R flights since the very first one on Nov. 2, 2003. The airport estimates that 920,000 soldiers have been personally greeted by volunteers. The flight arrival times varied day by day and so did the number of volunteers who greeted each flight. Sometimes there were as few as 30 greeters; sometimes there were more than 300.
Sgt. Hank Slaughter, 47, who returned from Kuwait earlier this month after serving in Iraq, smiled and shook hands with each of the 50 strangers who had come to greet his flight.
“This is great. This is definitely more than I expected to see,” said Slaughter.
Larry W. Smith / EPA
Tom Downey, 71, who volunteers with the organization 'Welcome Home a Hero' greets a soldier with a rose on March 14, 2012 at the at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. It's the last day soldiers returning home for two weeks of R&R will arrive to this kind of a homecoming now that all future Rest and Recuperation (R&R) flights will be routed through Atlanta where the general public will not have access to greet returning soldiers.
When Slaughter mentioned that he didn’t have a ride to his home, volunteer Pat Brown, 80, offered to take him. “He’s from Fort Worth and I’m from Fort Worth, so I’m going to take him home,” Brown said, laughing.
Brown has been cheering soldiers at the airport every week for six years. If she missed a week, she’d make it up by going twice the next week.
“It makes you feel great,” said Brown. “I feel like it’s a blessing that I live here where it’s happening. They don’t do this anyplace else like this.”
DFW International Airport made it easy for the volunteers, providing them space and free parking each day.
“I’ve never met a more giving people in my life,” Jim Crites, executive vice president of operations at DFW, said of the volunteers. “What they do is from the heart. What they’ve given is off the charts. This is what America is all about.”
Tom Downey, 71, arrived each day at the airport with flowers. He would hand each female soldier a red or yellow rose. “Many of these soldiers haven’t smelled flowers in months,” Downey said. “You have to look at their faces. There was one colonel who lifted me off my feet she was so surprised.”
Adam Sage came to surprise his fiancé, who was arriving on one of the last flights. Just a few months before, Sage had experienced the same welcome home greeting when he returned from Iraq.
“People just honestly don’t know what it means to all the soldiers who come back, especially single ones who don’t have a lot of family here,” Sage said. “It means the world to them.”
Leave a Comment:
Oh well, no welcome home is better than what some Viet Nam vets received.
And, there is no time like the present to correct it now! Leaders, step up! Write to your congressmen and women to see to this error--election time, brothers and sisters to begin beating the drum & reminding them to offer more than hollow words!
This is a terrific program. There is a simular program at Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine. Over one milion sevicemen have past through. Don't want to deract from this program, I just wanted people to know that it is not the only one.
Why would this valuable program end in light of the recent tragedy in Afghanistan and the toll on our warriors on the front lines and those who have returned home bruised and battered beyond all comprehension? It is but another huge misstep after being at war for ten years!
Our country's leaders should be performing double-duty and standing at the airports greeting our courageous warriors home. More important, seeing that each and every one receives the treatment they require to become whole again.
We owe they and their families a huge debt for their sacrifice and devotion to our country. Step up!
I think they have well shown how much they cared. The soldier who committed the murders in Afghanistan was on his 4th deployment in 8 yrs. Not to mention the head wound he received in Iraq. Head wounds can cause some bizarre and unusual behavior.
Our military personnel have had PTSD diagnoses reversed, suicidal ideations ignored and much, much more. They are touted as heroes as they return and then soon forgotten.
Only 45 years too late. At least the American public learned something about returning from war and did something about it. The government is still out to lunch. Thank you America for supporting those who defend you. F*** you Capitol Hill for abandoning your soldiers again.
Sgt. Slaughter???!!
Thank you volunteers and also the airport for helping.I'm a Viet Vet and retired army and I know how much it means when these soldiers come home. Again Thank You
So, once again, the comforts of those people sacrificing their lives comes back seat to the military budget. Thanks Congress. We'll remember that when it comes time to decide whether or not to let you keep your seats.
here we go our great govt. closing a program that helps our veterans are telling them to go to hell again. I say gather up all our POLITICIANS and President everylast one of the worthless bastards and send them all to Iraq.
I had no idea that this program was happening, but to hear that it's ending due to re-routed flights is a shame. My hat is off to all the volunteers to include the airport for supporting our troops!
I wonder who convinced Mitt that wearing poorly fitting jeans would help him connect with the great unwashed masses?
Did anyone else take note of the NYT exit poll that found that a significant number (40+%)of those who voted for Santorum still believe that Obama was actually born in Kenya?
This story said there is no troop welcome home program in Atlanta. ATLANTA DOES HAVE A GREETER PROGRAM! Funny I pass the USO stand right at the top of the escalators welcoming all the troops home and applauding. You might want to double check your facts!
Jason is right! Atlanta does have a greeter program, it's called USO Operation R&R.
Thanks to Janet Shamlian for her story on this great program. It's sad to see it come to an end and many heartfelt thanks to all of those volunteers over the past 8 years. C'mon, Atlanta, get with the program!
So Atlanta doesn't have a greeter program? Now that just ain't southern! ;)
No, NO, no! Why do we so easily give up our collective humanity? As a veteran I wonder, why have those returning show up where the public is not allowed? Show the names of the bureaucrats who have made these decisions so they can be tried on the court of world opinion. Which agency benefits from this, which corporations? I'm with those who are screaming and singing, why why? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49z3cheFN20
They have been doing this in Bangor, Maine since Deseet Storm. They even made a movie about the greeters at BIA. I think it's it's great that this woman has been doing this but don't make it sound like she is the only one.
Please note that the Maine Troop Greeters at Bangor International Airport have been welcoming the troops back to American soil since 2003. And even before that for Desert Storm. They have greeted over 6400 flights. Rain, sleet or snow...they're there. Amazing people.
This story is why the people of DFW are some of the nicest on the planet. I hope those in Atlanta pick up the torch of warm and well deserved "welcome homes".
Thanks T Day, I was sending a comment regarding the same thing. Bangor Maine Troop Greeters never miss a flight,day or nite. And the people that are getting upset about the DFW program ending, at least I thought I heard the story correctly, that the troops that are coming home will be routed thru Atlanta, just the logistics of it, and it looks like a another comment, that Atlanta has the USO stand and greeters there too. So, it looks like everything has been clarified, lets hope Brian Williams puts a blip about this on tomorrow nite.
This clown is one of the biggest fools to ever walk the planet....BEND over for big bubba.. 14 years should make you theee Jail house sweeetie pie. OBama should have been investigated too. What ever happened with ACORN? Voter FRAUD and STEALING ELECTIONS is now a petty crime. It happens ALL THE TIME AT ALL LEVELS with convictions resulting on a slap on the wrist. VOTER FRAUD HAPPENS ALL THE TIME >>..PEOPLE.... Wake up people.. IN THIS COUNTRY THERE SHOULD BE STRICT PENALTIES FOR VOTER FRAUD and for any type of manipulation of the elective process. ACORN.?? People paid to help voters... and they encourage Illegal underage prostetution of foreign girls and help the offenders get around the legalities. PLEASE.. These are OBAMA'S PEOPLE !! There is going to be election fraud up the YING YANG !!! FACT !! In the up coming election it will b a JOKE !!! MARK MY WORDS PEOPLE.. !! Let's spend millions of dollars to help ACORN steal and manipulate the elections.. FACT !! The prositution of underage girls was the tip of the iceberg.. If you can't see their influence on elections your either blind or STUPID.. maybe both?
Really?...seriously? What a great program that is ending too soon!! Let it end when all are home...from a Vietnam Vet to whom it would have really meant something. These people are what America is all about....it makes my heart hurt.
Sorry, I should have fb posted to begin with....you have to expess who you are....
Whoa, what type of reporting is this? The Atlanta Greeting program is and has been the largest in the country We meet the flights coming in from Kuwait, via Germany and Ireland and greet all the troops that are not connecting directly with Delta at one of Hartsfield's concourses. We meet them and provide them assistance if they are being picked up in Atlanta and we provide help if they are connecting on another airline.
We also meet and greet hundreds of troops each day who are flying into the World's Busiest Airport from all over the country. We give them guidance on baggage pickup, USO location and services, manifesting for flight back to Theater and instruction on how to use the military line through security.
The story on the folks in Dallas was wonderful and certainly every American should be thanking them for their service. Unfortunately the information on Atlanta and our great USO was completely wrong. I have been doing this job every Monday for the past 4 1/2 years and I only wish they would let me do it every day.
Bob Spidel
USA (Retired)