Apr 29, 2008 6:00 pm US/Central
Support For Soldiers Shown With 45 Miles Of Signs
(WCCO)
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The ladies have about 400 messages to put up before noon Wednesday -- a lot to do in a short amount of time, but there will be no shortage of support for Soldiers of the 849th when they roll in.
CBS
As the violence in Iraq seems to be picking up again, military families at home are focusing on the positive.
A group of 100 Minnesota soldiers from the 849th Mobilization Augmentation Company will arrive home from Iraq to Litchfield Wednesday, and their wives and girlfriends aim to make sure the soldiers know how much their service to our country is appreciated.
"We're gonna start in Delano, because that's about 45 miles out and Delano has a lot of flags in town and we're just going to add to that," said Gina Harcey, the wife of a soldier who's been deployed in Iraq most of the last year.
She couldn't be more excited to see her husband Wednesday or more proud of what he and other soldiers of the 849th have been doing since they left their families.
"We wanted to make sure they knew how proud we are them, and how thankful we are them," said Harcey.
Harcey and some other wives decided to get the message across by decorating the final leg of the soldiers' trip home.
However, they didn't just make signs for their husbands -- they made them for the entire company -- each and every one of the 100 members.
"We just wanted to make sure that no one was left out because every single one of them has paid a price for us," said Harcey.
They set out to do it by themselves and found it wasn't hard to recruit help.
"My Dad, with Grandt Builders, has helped a lot. He got all the signs and the sign company helped us out. They were really generous," said Harcey.
"I was actually looking for stakes and found a printer ... and he printed these signs and had them ready yesterday at noon," said Dale Grandt.
Michaels Arts and Crafts sold the girls flags at a hefty discount and wives from Wilmer to Litchfield have pitched in painting the hand-made signs.
The ladies have about 400 messages to put up before noon Wednesday -- a lot to do in a short amount of time, but there will be no shortage of support for Soldiers of the 849th when they roll in.
The soldiers are scheduled to leave Ft. McCoy in the morning and are expected to arrive in Litchfield between noon and 1 p.m. in the afternoon.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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