A Hero's Welcome

2/24/12 Update! Welcome Home LCDR. Todd MOORES

Maria — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:31:40 +0000

2/24/12 WELCOME HOME LCDR. TODD MOORES, U.S. NAVY / Westminster, Massachusetts

Looking for Volunteers in the Boston area to help with this welcome home!

Please spread the word!!!

A Hero’s Welcome is a troop support organization based in the Philadelphia area but receives welcome home requests from across the country. We currently have no contacts in the Boston area but have a welcome home we are tentatively planning for 2/24/12, pending final flight info.

Please contact Maria@aheros-welcome.org if you can assist with this welcome home.

Rally Date: 2/24/ ? /12

Rally Location: Westminster, MA

Rally Time: TBA

We are working together with LCDR Moores’ wife, Amy to plan a welcome home for her husband as he returns from his deployment to Afghanistan. Flight plans are still undecided so we are going to plan a welcome home celebration on Todd’s hometown of Westminster, MA.

If you would like to join us in giving our HERO a super star welcome.. please contact maria.

Bio from Todd’s wife, Amy:

LCDR Moores, graduated from Maine Maritime Academy and commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1996. After completing his Surface Warfare training in Newport, RI, he was assigned to Mine Counter Measures Rotation Crew Bravo, home ported in Ingleside, Texas. There he served as the Auxiliaries and Electrical Officer. MCM ROTCREW Bravo conducted deployments in Bahrain.

After completing his initial tour, LCDR Moores joined the Reserve Component where he served as the Executive Officer on the USS INCHION support Unit.

Moving to the Northeast in October 1999, LT Moores completed tours with NR Afloat Training Group, serving as a Training Liaison Officer working with U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard Ships and with NR Commander U.S. Forces Korea where he served as the Public Affairs Officer and Administrations Officer. There he completed three Training Periods.

In 2007, LCDR Moores then took command of NR Cargo Afloat Rig Team 1 Detachment C in support of Military Sea Lift Command and Sea Logistics Command while conducting Replenishments at Sea during major exercises. Returning to support the Republic of Korea in 2010 he took command as the Officer in Charge of Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea Detachment D.

Since February 2011, LCDR Moores has been mobilized to Afghanistan in support of the International Security Assistance Force.

His family and friends are anxiously awaiting his safe return.

2/20/12 TAMPA CHAPTER WELCOMES HOME WOUNDED WARRIOR

Maria — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:43:00 +0000

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1461989701001/injured-soldier-returns-home-from-afghanistan

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS / WE’VE LOST A DEAR FRIEND

Maria — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:20:45 +0000

Kat’s Funeral Arrangements will be as follows:

  There WILL be a flag line on Tuesday only.

VIEWING, Monday Night 7-9 pm

Reed @ Steinbach Funeral Home
2335 Lower State Road
Doylestown, PA

Mass of Christian Burial

Tuesday Feb. 21, 2012

Our Lady of Guadalupe RC Church

413 & Creamery Rd, Doylestown, PA

As per Wayne Lutz:

I do NOT want a “ride in” or one large group of bikes coming in, nor do I want a flag line. The meaning behind this is that those of us who will be there Monday night, I want us to be inside helping the grieving family, not outside. HOWEVBER, your WWR “Uniform” is perfectly acceptable. I will be wearing my leather and vest. I believe it is appropriate, and Kat would think so too.

Again, in terms of what you should drive and wear, treat this like a FULL-BLOWN HONOR MISSION.

We will show our respect and understanding for Kat’s contribution to our troop support organizations by standing with flags from 10 to 11.

We need to do this right for the sake of our friend.

* * * * *

A Hero’s Welcome has lost one of our best friends today.

Kat Fialkowski fought a hard battle. She tried to hang on and win but her heart couldn’t keep up.

Kat was well known throughout A Hero’s Welcome and the Warriors’ Watch Riders as a mover and a shaker.. You needed it done, you called Kat.. She would make it happen!

But Kat was not just our friend; she was Mom to her beautiful daughters, Nana to her grandchildren and “Kathy” to her husband T.

We didn’t know Kat would be taken from us so quickly. No one could have expected last week at this time, Kat would be preparing for the fight of her life.

We will ALL miss Kat, but if each of us can pick just one of Kat’s many acts of kindness’ and pay it forward…

The world will be a better place to live.

Please keep T, Janine and Danielle in your thoughts and prayers.

We thank you for sharing Kat with us!

* * * *

       Everything we can do for this funeral ill be a deep and abiding honor

2/16/12 WELCOME HOME CPL. JOHN STALLIONS, U.S.M.C. BOISE, IDAHO

Maria — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:32:56 +0000

WHAT: WELCOME HOME FOR CPL. JOHN STALLIONS, U.S.M.C.

WHERE: BOISE AIRPORT, BOISE, IDAHO

RALLY TIME: 1:00 PM

CONTACT DOUG BADGER/ 610-316-0049 FOR MORE INFO OR QUESTIONS

2/18/12 WELCOME HOME CPL. JOSH MURRAY, U.S.M.C.

Maria — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:46:20 +0000

On a wet Saturday evening February 18th Cpl. Josh Murray USMC was recognized for his dedicated service to our country by WWR, AHW, The Second Brigade and many friends and extended family at Barnaby’s of America in Havertown, Pa.

Josh is the youngest of three children of John and Teresa Murray. He has an older brother Kevin, also a Marine as well as a sister Jamie. Josh has a son Donte and another child on the way.

Josh went to vocational school for automotive technology. After graduating high school he started repairing cars in his father’s shop but wanted to be challenged and try something different. He decided he wanted to join the Marines like his brother Kevin. Josh and his good friend TJ Procaccio made a pact to go together on the buddy system. They wanted to do something better with their lives.

Warriors Watch Riders were invited to DROP IN on a scheduled gathering at Barnaby’s in Havertown by Josh’s mother Teresa to celebrate and recognize Josh’s service to our country. WWR, A Hero’s Welcome and a large contingent from The Second Brigade led by Rabbit rallied at the Manoa Shopping Center and at 8:30. We held a ride briefing which included a minute of silence in honor and recognition of our dear friend and founding member of WWR Kat Fialkowski. We announced that this ride went on as she would have wanted and would be in her honor. We then proceeded to Barnaby’s of America a short distance away.

With road guards William, Lee, Visionrider, Walker and others in place the procession of big flagged bikes followed by many more motorcycles, cars and trucks entered Barnaby’s parking lot. A “KAT’S ARMY” banner was displayed on the windshield of the leading RC motorcycle. We circled the building with lights flashing and horns blaring and pulled up to the front door. There we were met by a very surprised Marine Corporal along with his family and invited guests. I believe the Marine’s first words were “What’s this all about?”. Well.. it was about HIM!! A line immediately formed to shake the hand and pat the back of Cpl. Josh Murray. We then provided a PROPER Welcome Home for Josh by thanking him for his service, sacrifice and dedication to keeping us all free and safe here at home and presented him with our Warrior’s Watch Honor coin. He then received a certificate recognizing his service to our country, and a thank you from a grateful nation presented by Maria and many members from A Hero’s Welcome. We then learned of a second Marine veteran of Afghanistan in attendance at the festivities and presented Cpl. Michael Morrow with our WWR Honor coin and thanked him for his service and sacrifice to our country.

Cpl. Murray was then joined by his brother Kevin (who was Welcomed Home along with TJ Procaccio a short time ago) and Cpl. Morrow. The first pictures were of The Second Brigade greeting all three Marines. Then it was time for the traditional WWR and AHW group shot (cameras on the left, riders and Hero’s on the right!) After a few more hugs, and a lot more mugs we rode into the dark night to allow the party to continue.

WWR would like to thank Teresa and John Murray and the entire Murray family for inviting us to participate in this very well deserved Welcome Home celebration for Josh. We thank the Procaccio family for their support in arranging this celebration. Warriors Watch Riders also extend our sincere thanks to Bill Hendricks, General Manager of Barnaby’s, for his assistance in arranging this surprise recognition ceremony.

Semper Fi

IN HONOR OF KAT FIALKOWSKI

Respectfully submitted by RC HowardK

Pictures courtesy of Bikerider

http://delcotimes.com/articles/2012/02/19/news/doc4f41cb6dee4db964432520.txt

Folks we have been contacted by the PROUD mom of CPL Josh Murray to see if we could assist her in showing Josh how much his two tours in the sand box were appreciated by so many. Well you know what answer was so we will be doing a Mug-n-Hug @ Barnaby’s (Havertown) and showing Josh how much America appreciates his service and sacrifice.

Short Bio : My son Josh is friendly and loyal. He is the youngest of three. He has an older brother Kevin (also a marine) and sister Jamie. He also has a son Donte and another little one on the way. His father is John Murray and his mother is Teresa Murray.

Josh went to vocational school for automotive technology. After graduating high school, Josh starting repairing cars in his dad’s shop . After a while, Josh wanted to be challenged and try something different. He later decided that he wanted to join the marines like his older brother. He and his good friend Tj made a pack to go together on the buddy system. They wanted to do something better with their lives. They both wanted to leave before things got worse with friends, drugs and everything else that was changing. They left behind the hood and all the bad going down in it.

After boot camp, Josh was stationed in Cherry point, North Carolina. He assigned To squad 123 as a combat engineer. He did two tours of Afghanistan returning in September 2011.

We are so proud of all Josh and all he has accomplished. His a dedicated and loyal person his family, friends and. Fellow marines.

Semper Fi
Teresa Murray

Date: 2/18/12
Time : 8:45 PM
Rally Location: Manoa Shopping Center (back parking lot)
West Chester Pike & Glendale Road (one mile East of Rt 476 Blue route)
KSU: 9:05 PM
Final Destination:  Barnaby’s of America (restaurant)
                           1901 Old West Chester Pike
                           Havertown, Pa.

RC for this mission will be HowardK, Thank You Howard appreciate the long distance confirmation on RC’ing.

2/15/12 UPDATED..NYC WELCOME HOME EDWARD VINOGROSKI, U.S.M.C.

Maria — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:01:04 +0000

A Hero’s Welcome has received a request from Edward’s father to welcome home his son back home from his 5th Deployment…….

CAN WE DO IT?? SURE WE CAN!

This is a short notice so let’s pull out all the stops and make this happen!

Who: Edward J. Vinogroski Jr.,

What: Welcome Home

RALLY POINT:

133-38 142nd St, Jamaica, NY 11436
http://m.google.com/u/m/zSq9cc

When: Wed. Feb. 15, 2012

Time: Approx. 10:00 a.m.

Edward is returning from his 5th Deployment, the latest in Afghanistan. He has been in the Corps for 10 years and has never had a welcome home celebration like this.. Let’s be sure he remembers this one!!!

SAD NEWS ABOUT KAT FIALKOWSKI, National Director of the AWWC

Maria — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:38:29 +0000

I am writing to you tonight with a very heavy heart.

Saturday evening our dear friend, Kat Fialkowski suffered a massive heart attack. She is in intensive care at Temple University Hospital, hanging on to life. The next few days are the most crucial.

Kat is one of the most wonderful women I know; full of character, conviction and most of all Love. Love for God, her country and most of all her husband, Tony and her family. Her passion is her support of our Military.

Kat has always given 110% to everyone, now, I am asking you to give just a moment out of your day to pray for her recovery.
Positive thoughts can move mountains. If anyone can pull through this, Kat can. I believe that with every part of my being.

The link below is to a thread started by Wayne Lutz, founder of the Warriors’ Watch Riders, about Kat and T.

Please feel free to visit both sites to keep updated on Kat’s progress and post your own thoughts and well wishes.

Thank you,

Maria Hyland

For access to the links below, you must first create a log in on the Warriors’ Watch site, it is free and very easy to set up. Please check the links below for the most up to date info on Kat’s progress.. Thank you again for your continued prayers.

http://forums.lutzkicksass.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1329166962/s-0/

http://forums.lutzkicksass.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1329173254/s-0/

2/11/12 SHORT NOTICE WELCOME HOME SGT. DANIEL DRODDY, U.S. ARMY ALLENTOWN, PA

Maria — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:48:45 +0000

12/11/12 SHORT NOTICE! WELCOME HOME SGT. DANIEL DRODDY, U.S ARMY

One of our Our own, Planbforme wrote:
Hope this finds you well!! Remember I mentioned a friend of mine who was deployed? I’d love to arrange a mug/hug/flagline. His wife tells me – he would be delighted to step off the bus to a flagline… It’s kinda short notice – this Saturday – in Annville.
How do we go about making it happen????
Well, Beth, we jump in and get it done!

Bio:
Sgt Daniel Droddy graduated from Solanco high School in 1998. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard. In 2003, he volunteered to deploy with the North Carolina National Guard with whom he spent a year in Iraq. (Dec 2003-Dec 2004) After returning, he met and married his wife, Ashley, in 2006. They were blessed with the births of their two sons, Mason in 2008 and Hunter in 2010. In February 2011, he left for his second tour leaving behind his wife and two sons, ages 2 ½ and 7 months old. During his deployment he has traveled to Kuwait, Afghanistan and Qatar. Outside of the military, Dan enjoys golfing, landscaping and Penn State football as well as his most important role as “dad”. He is looking forward to summer days spent with his boys at the park and teaching them how to ride their bicycles as well as a nice family vacation at the beach.

RC: Planbforme – thanks for stepping up!

Primary Rally Point:
Moose’s LZ
211 Fisher Ave., Jonestown, PA 17038
Rally Time: 9:30 am
KSU: 9:55 am

ECPA Rally Point:
Rodeway Inn
1151 Bulldog Drive, Allentown, PA 18104
Rally Time: 7:30 am
KSU: 8:00 am

From the ECPA rally point, we will be taking I-78 W to exit 1A to merge onto I-81 N (towards Hazleton), then taking exit 90 toward Fisher Ave. Turn right on Fisher Ave., Moose’s LZ will be on the right.

Please bring 3’ x 5’ flags if possible!
There will be a total of 5 or 6 soldiers returning.

02/12/12 WELCOME HOME SN JONES, U.S. COAST GUARD PHL to FEASTERVILLE, PA

Maria — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:36:54 +0000

WELCOME HOME SN LAURENCE JONES UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

2 – 12 – 2012

Photos by Dan O’Kane: thanks Dan!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariahyland1/SNJonesUSCG2122012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJj2yY_bqqmaWw&feat=directlink

On a cold and windy Sunday afternoon a hearty bunch from A Heros Welcome and Warriors Watch Riders met up at FB 69 for our marching orders from ‘ HUGGY ‘. How cold was it you ask ?? Just ask ‘ TREVOSE ‘ cause he was on the ONLY bike !! Along with six cages with the heaters on we headed to terminal ‘ A ‘ at Philly Airport to bring home our “ Snowman “ from the frozen North West , SN Laurence Jones , United States Coast Guard. Fresh off the Coast Guard ice Breaker “ HEANY “ on a rescue mission to clear a path thru Sea Ice for the Russian Tanker bringing needed fuel to the town of Nome , Alaska , SN Jones came thru the gate in a short sleeve uniform with NO jacket. He said that coming from minus 30 degrees this was like Miami Beach ! What say you “ TREVOSE “ ??

With Philadelphia’s Finest providing our escort we brought our HERO home to family, friends and neighbors where WWR worked their magic and A HEROS WELCOME presented our CERTIFICATE . After our MUG and HUG and group shot and thanking SN Jones for his service , especially to the frozen citizens of Nome , Alaska , we were on our way. God Bless Our Coast Guard !!

Respectfully submitted,

CAPTAIN DAN

Danny O’Kane AHW / WWR

***** Welcome Home SN Jones , US Coast Guard*****Laurence Jones’ family hasnt seen him in almost a year. Think about not seeing one of you’re family members for a year.
Lets help this family celebrate the return of their son.

Laurence was aboard the POLAR STAR , located in Seattle Washington. He was offered to join the crew of the HEALY. He took that opportunity to join the Healy crew and head out to break ice for the tanker RENDA.

Laurence will be coming into Philly on Sunday 2/12 and we’ll be there to greet him and escort him home to the Feasterville Pa area.

RALLY- Engine 69 Bartram Ave , Phila Pa
RALLY TIME-1445 (2:45 PM)
KSU (kick stands up)-15 :15 (3:15pm)

IN NEED OF AN RC – SOMEONE WANNA STEP UP?

If you would like to present the AHW Certificate to these two Heroes….please contact Maria@aheros-welcome.org

3/3/12 DATE CHANGE! Welcome Home Cpl. John McBride

Maria — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:26:33 +0000

Mission Date has been changed to 3/3 we will be doing a Birthday/Welcome Home Mug-n-Hug for this returning Marine. Please watch this thread for updates on rally and times.

Date : 3/3/12

Rally Time : TBD
Rally Location : TBD
KSU : TBD
Destination ; Birthday Party
Final Destination : Philadelphia Pa.

We have been contacted by the proud brother of CPL McBride to see if we could help pull off this big surprise for his brother. I just love surprises and I know you do too, so we said yes.
We will greet our Hero at the airport say Hello and Welcome Home only like we can and then escort him home to his awaiting family.

BIO:
CPL John McBride graduated from Northeast Catholic high school. He is assigned with the 170th
Infantry 4-7th Battalion. He is a Cav Scout with D-troop and has received combat spurs.

If you would like to present the AHW Certificate to Cpl McBride, please contact Maria@aheros-welcome.org