POSTED FOR NEPA STATE COORDINATOR AL (BLUESMAN NEPA)

Mission completed…very successfully!

On Saturday, October 11, 2008, 27 motorcycles and approximately 40 people arrived at the Wilkes Barre- Scranton International airport to welcome home Sgt. Earl Granville. Sgt. Granville arrived home today, but left a leg in Iraq. I’ll go into more detail about that shortly.

We all met at the airport at 1:00…Sgt. Granville was to arrive at 1:30 – 2:00. I checked with airport info…he was not listed on any scheduled incoming flights!

FotF N.E. Wing Pres Howard “Big Daddy” Lee arrived, and informed me that Sgt. Granville was coming in on a private plane, and would not be coming to the main terminal. We relocated to a small parking area near the private aircraft terminal, where we were told that he would not be arriving until 3:30 PM. In fact, the plane that was  to fly him home was just taking off to Walter Reed to pick him up. He was being flown home by his own doctor!  Our people went right to the plane, on the tarmac to greet him individually. Several carried his gear, including wheelchair, to a limo waiting to transport him.

Sgt. Granville lost his leg in the same HumVee incident which badly injured Michael Kacer, and badly burned Jim Rosenkrantz. He was not expected to be able to visit home until Thanksgiving, but changes in his treatment schedule allowed him to make a visit home early…thus the “Short Notice”. His family scrambled to arrange a full Thanksgiving Dinner for him and friends at his church in Carbondale, PA today. We escorted him approximately 15 miles from the airport to his church. We were picked up by a police escort when we reached the town of Carbondale, where we had to navigate through several redlights and stopsigns.

I need to thank, and also ask all of you to thank…Friends of the Forgotten Northeast Wing Secretary Jeannie “Princess” Long for sending out the word for this mission. Princess also contacted ABC -TV local affiliate WNEP- TV…WNEP had a news crew at the airport at 1:00….with the change in time, they left, but did return at 3:30, then rushed to the church ahead of us to meet the mission as we arrived in Carbondale.  I thank them for their excellent coverage, as always.
Also, much gratitude to last-minute volunteer Road Captains, FOTF members Bag George, Glenn, and Charlie!

It was a fulfilling and rewarding day, to see the honor given to an injured hero, by so many! God Bless NEPA and its Patriots!!

Al