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Those who have served since 9/11 honored at Cuyahoga Falls event
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Sep 15, 2008
CUYAHOGA FALLS: Just as a heavy wind blew across Falls River Square off Broad Boulevard and ruffled the tent where Joe Gross was sitting Sunday, the reality of what day it was dawned on Gross.
''Today is my alive day,'' Gross, a 31-year-old Army veteran, said.
So Gross had two things to celebrate Sunday.
Not only was he remembering the day he survived a suicide car bombing in Iraq that took off his right leg below the knee, but he also was among hundreds of veterans who have served stateside and in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, who were officially welcomed home on Sunday.
The welcome home was put on by the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The event not only was held to thank returning veterans for their service to their country, said VA spokesman Chuck Bonacci, but it was also designed to help them get any assistance they might need.
Gross, a Cuyahoga Falls native, is the area outreach coordinator for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group that provides services to wounded veterans.
''This is great,'' said Gross, of the VA event, before he continued his work passing out leaflets about the Wounded Warrior Project to fellow veterans.
One of those he spoke with was Munroe Falls resident Jeremy McIntire, 28, who completed a four-year enlistment in the Army early this month and who served in Iraq.
''It is awesome what the VA is doing,'' said McIntire, who recently joined an Ohio Army National Guard unit.
Among those who showed up to say thank you to the newest generation of war veterans was Vietnam veteran Ron Adkins, 56, of Salineville, Ohio, who drove to Cuyahoga Falls on his motorcycle.
''I just want to thank them,'' said Adkins, who has attended about 25 funerals of those killed in Iraq, including that of Stow Marine Sgt. Joseph Tomci.
During the opening ceremony, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart, a Marine veteran, said the welcome home was ''long overdue'' and called the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans ''our 21st-Century American Spartans.''
William Montague, director of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, asked those in attendance to give the veterans a round of applause.
''Welcome home!'' he said.
Army Reserve Lt. Col Edward Horvath, M.D., a primary-care physician at the VA's Wade Park facility in Cleveland, said when this generation of veterans was called to duty, ''they did extraordinary things.''
About 1,100 veterans signed up online to attend Sunday's event, said Patricia ''Pat'' Hall, of Hudson, a clinical nurse specialist in mental health and the Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom program manager at VA in Cleveland.
She said it is possible that many returning veterans ''who don't like to be around crowds might be reluctant'' to attend ceremonies like Sunday's event, but the VA plans to hold annual ceremonies like this and expects the crowd to grow every year.
Marine Staff Sgt. Tim Oberst, 35, of Stow, who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, attended the program with his family: wife, Wendy, and children, Madison, Autumn and Matthew.
Oberst, who is operations chief for Akron's Weapons Company Marine Reserve unit and has been a Marine for 18 years, said the welcome home ''is outstanding.''
His wife said their family appreciates what the VA did and the support of those who turned out Sunday.
''It shows that people out there really care,'' she said.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
CUYAHOGA FALLS: Just as a heavy wind blew across Falls River Square off Broad Boulevard and ruffled the tent where Joe Gross was sitting Sunday, the reality of what day it was dawned on Gross.
Get the full article here.
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