The young soldier hadn't slept in 48 hours or bathed in 72. Now that he was finally back from Iraq, all Pfc. Justin Gindhart wanted was a hot shower and a soft bed.
But these days, Gindhart discovered, a soldier's homecoming isn't always that simple. To his surprise, there was a troop of motorcycle-riding Vietnam vets to greet him at the airport; a police-escorted motorcade, past blocked-off intersections and highway entrances, that backed up traffic for miles; an appearance at a support-the-troops rally; a gathering of neighbors and friends, alerted by fire and ambulance sirens, outside his family's house. And the biggest shock of all — a reunion with a disabled comrade whose life he'd helped save in Iraq.
'Wow! I thought I was just gonna come home,' the startled private told the crowd that spilled across his lawn and into the street on Father's Day. 'I didn't expect anything like this!' |