Troop Greeters mark six-year commitment
6/1/09 | 14 comments
celebration

Troop Greeters mark six-year commitment


Group has welcomed 800,000 through BIA
By Meg Haskell
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY BRIDGET BROWN
Maine Troop Greeters Chairman Tom Kohl (right) shows first-time visitors from Bar Harbor (clockwise from lower left) Linda McFarland, David Manski and Todd Edgar around the Troop Greeter Room at Bangor International Airport where the group hosted a sixth anniversary open house Sunday May 31, 2009. "This is neat. It's very cool," said McFarland of the troop greeters who've welcomed more than 800,000 troops through BIA since May of 2003. Buy Photo

BANGOR, Maine — The city’s renowned troop greeters gathered at Bangor International Airport on Sunday to celebrate their sixth year of supporting military members deployed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About three dozen greeters attended the open house in the upstairs terminal, where they have lined up faithfully at all hours of the day and night to welcome more than 800,000 troops to the Queen City.

The greeters have been active a lot longer than the post-Sept. 11 global war on terror.

Marion Rudnicki of Bangor, an Army veteran who was stationed in Germany during the Korean War, has been meeting troop flights in Bangor since 1990, the start of the Desert Shield conflict in Kuwait.

“Back then, [the troop greeters] filled this place,” he recalled, looking around the terminal.

Paul Lucey, who recently moved with his wife to Bangor from San Francisco in order to be nearer to the couple’s daughter, said a friend got him involved with the troop greeters.

“It’s very heartwarming,” Lucey said. “There was nothing like this during World War II or Korea.”

Lucey, a former Marine aviator, served in both those wars.

“I try to walk in [the troops’] shoes,” he said. “It’s really so important to welcome them home. I find it a very gratifying experience. I hope to stay with it for a long time.”

Joan Gaudet of Hampden was among the greeters enjoying the camaraderie of the celebration, which was fitted out with a cake provided by the Brewer High School Class of 2011.

Gaudet was featured in “The Way We Get By,” a recent film about the Maine Troop Greeters directed by her son Aron Gaudet.

The film has aired at independent film festivals across the nation and garnered critical acclaim and several awards.

Joan Gaudet said that meeting troop flights has enriched her life and that the film’s success has been remarkable.

“People say ‘There goes the movie star,’ but I’m still just me,” she said. “I don’t feel any different.”

Tom Kohl, a Vietnam War veteran and chairman of the Maine Troop Greeters, said trying to organize the group can be “like herding cats.”

Still, he said, every troop flight coming into Bangor, regardless of the time of day, is met by a significant number of greeters.

“We put the call out, and we always get enough,” he said. The greeters applaud the deplaning troops, hand them cell phones and snacks and welcome them to the Queen City, whether they’re headed off to a war zone or headed home to family and friends.

Kohl said being a troop greeter can be “an emotional roller coaster.” While some returning troops phoning home from the Bangor terminal may be met with unwelcome news such as the breakup of a romance, others have more positive experiences. One soldier, he recalled, phoned his wife and found himself coaching her through active labor and the birth of their first child.

“You can get very low and very, very high,” Kohl said.

The greeters were due to meet their next troop flight around 10 p.m. Sunday.

On the Web: www.themainetroopgreeters.com

www.thewaywegetbymovie.com

mhaskell@bangordailynews.net

990-8291

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Comments
14 comments on this item
On 6/1/09 at 12:02 AM, Mainelyme wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thanks for the picture of Kay

I just stole it and put it in my save file.

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On 6/1/09 at 6:21 AM, patom1 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I have had the pleasure and luck to greet troops while at the Airport on several occasions. I have always been welcomed by the other troop greeters as a helping hand. Given the opportunity I will gladly repeat the fine feeling that I get from shaking so many hands from across this fine land. God bless them all.

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On 6/1/09 at 7:00 AM, PabMainer wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Over six years of faithfully greeting our troops is a very impressive accomplishment!! These folks who are serving in our military have been met and greeted 7 days a week 24 hours a day....Great Job to all who have work so selfishlessly and given of themselves to make a difference for America's Bravest!!

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On 6/1/09 at 7:04 AM, paragriff wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I want to say thanks to these fine people. I spent 21 years in the Army and never had anyone greet me after coming back from a deployment. It is wonderful to see such great people welcoming our service members back. I am planning to try and get up there to join them from time to time so I can personally thank some military members for their service.

These people are heroes. Both the service members as well as the greeters. Thank you again for everything you do.

How do I contact them to find out when flights are coming in that need to be greeted?

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On 6/1/09 at 7:26 AM, Stevey_Dee wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

A couple of years ago we were in the airport and they thought we were troop greeters. They bought us a couple of rounds at the bar. We finally figured out what was going on.

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On 6/1/09 at 8:36 AM, Northwoods_Maine wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

God bless the "greeters" for the effort you make to greet the men and women of this country who have made the biggest commitment one can make to their country. As a frequent flyer who has had the priviledge of being at BIA several times when a troop plane has landed, I was moved nearly to tears seeing the faces of these brave men and women light up with broad smiles at the first sight of the greeters. I have noticed one disturbing thing though - most of the greeters seem to be senior citizens ----- where are the younger Patriots of our community? No where is it written that you have to be in your 60's and beyond to pitch and and say "Thanks" to our brave military men and women.

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On 6/1/09 at 9:17 AM, redsoxgrl wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The "Trooper Greeters" are the best!! Day & Night welcoming the very people who protects us everyday at home and abroad!! I can only imagine how much this means to the troops!!

You are a blessing and you do the State of Maine proud!! Thank you for representing the Bangor & State of Maine so well.

Keep up the good work!!

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On 6/1/09 at 1:10 PM, mainemanabroad wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

When I returned from Viet Nam in 1970, I was greeted by three people, my mother, father, and my fiancee. I had been yelled at in LA and someone threw coffee on me in Chicago when I was changing planes. In Bangor I was so pleased that it was blistering cold (Feb. 6th), too cold for protesters. After four years in service to my country, one of which was in combat, I couldn't wait to shed that uniform and take a shower. I still feel the shame of those feelings. I wonder if a welcoming committee would have changed my attitude about coming home.

I would be standing there along side of you if I could. THANK YOU!

Rev. Robert James Shand, MS. DD

Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico

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On 6/1/09 at 8:10 PM, chersully2000 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Mainelyme:

You know Kay Lebowitz? She is remarkable.

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On 6/2/09 at 8:01 PM, Mainelyme wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

chersully2000

I was the best man at her wedding.

Her husband said he was but I said no he was the groom.

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On 6/2/09 at 8:10 PM, chersully2000 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Okay, Mainelyme. You know then how much she contributes to the community. She even won a big Volunteer Award last year.....so well-deserved.

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On 6/2/09 at 8:14 PM, Mainelyme wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

She's the woman I love!

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On 6/2/09 at 8:55 PM, chersully2000 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Yes, you and many others. (WR)

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On 6/2/09 at 9:26 PM, Mainelyme wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

We've been friends for 49 years this month.

Try outs for Bangor Civic Theater's Auntie Mame.at thw old City Hall on Hammond Street Hill.

June 1960

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