Welcome home, soldiers

Felicia, 5, stays close to her father David Binning of Pecatonica after he returned from a tour in Afghanistan at the Sycamore National Guard Armory in Sycamore. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com)

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SYCAMORE – Waiting with crowds of flag-waving supporters along State Street in downtown Sycamore for the local Illinois Army National Guard unit to return home, the second-grade students at St. Mary's Catholic School couldn't hold their cheers back any longer.

They let loose minutes before police sirens announced the return of the soldiers, who marched from downtown Sycamore to the National Guard armory Monday morning. The soldiers gave high fives and handshakes while the students chanted, "USA, USA."

"I can't tell you how charged they are," school aide Mary Banasiak said.

Second-grader Hanna Diehl was excited "because they get to see their families again."

Nearby, St. Mary's Principal Ross Bubolz distributed flags left over from Sycamore Pumpkin Festival to bystanders. Because the school used to play sports at the armory, students have a special relationship with the troops, he said.

"We just had to be here," he added.

Dozens of students, veterans, families and downtown workers welcomed back the approximately 50 soldiers with Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 122nd Field Artillery Monday. The soldiers are among about 220 Guardsmen with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team who are returning home. The team was mobilized last June to train the Afghan National Police, and with 30 units, it was the largest overseas deployment of the Illinois National Guard since World War II.

The soldiers returned to the county late last week and spent the weekend at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. After making their way through throngs of supporters, they were reunited with their families at the armory.

"Coming off that plane, Wisconsin never seemed so great," Sgt. 1st Class John Jonak of Westmont said while his 2-year-old daughter, Katie, snuggled into his shoulder. "The air is different here, the colors are different, and then there's just the knowing that I'm finally home with my family and I don't have to leave again."

Though Jonak has been deployed twice before, this was the first time he had to be away from his daughter, his wife, Tonia, said. Tonia Jonak credited a strong support network for helping get the family through the year.

That support was echoed by many who came to welcome the soldiers home, whether they were family or not.

"It's kind of close to your heart when you have a family member go off," said Sheila Appel, whose uncle served in the military.

Her coworker, Teresa Jacobson, said that being a part of the homecoming "makes you feel that you can support your troops in a way you normally can't."

And Korean War veteran John Remour described how he felt in one word: proud.

"Mainly, I guess, it's being an American and keeping our rights as Americans," he said.

Staff Sgt. Dejuan Henderson didn't want to miss a thing about the homecoming. He took photos and digital video from the ranks as the soldiers made their way to the armory, and inside, he ran around snapping photos as of his comrades with their families.

"It's great. I wanted to get all the moments," he said. "It's great to be home, but it feels like only yesterday we had our going-away ceremony."

The year-long deployment also went by faster than expected for the Castillo family, Pedro and Toni Castillo of Maple Park said. The deployment was the first for their son, Spc. Andrew Castillo.

"It was hard. The holidays were extremely rough," Toni Castillo said. "We could talk all the time, so he was close to us that way, and time went fast."

Those who couldn't make it to the homecoming parade were still able to show their support. Seven-year-old Colton Novinsky's sign read that his second-grade class at Southeast Elementary School "says Welcome Home Troops."

Sycamore Middle School sixth-grade teacher Alena Dryden passed out handmade signs from a garbage bag. When the school found out about the homecoming late Friday afternoon, about 20 students quickly got to work, making 100 signs in about 20 minutes, she said.

Then, forecasts of heavy rain forced the school to cancel its plans to attend.

"They'll be happy to know [the signs] were being used," Dryden said. "It was a good social studies lesson to say this isn't what you think about the war, it's about welcoming the troops home."

As the Holder family waited for Sgt. Randy Holder Jr., to arrive, Randy Holder Sr., said the year was stressful for the family. It was his son's first overseas deployment, and every time the family heard a news report of a soldier wounded or killed in Afghanistan, they wondered whether it was him, he said.

"We've been texting back and forth all morning just to make sure he's really on that bus and he's really coming home," Randy Holder Sr. said.

The unit did lose one soldier, Sgt. Kevin Grieco, 35, of Bartlett. Grieco was killed in action Oct. 27. Three other soldiers from different units in the combat team were also killed, and a total of four were wounded.