BANGOR, Maine — At all hours of the day and night for more than a decade, a dedicated group of Mainers have descended on Bangor International Airport to ensure that U.S. soldiers know they’re appreciated.
Every year, members of that dedicated group are lost, but they are not forgotten.
Wednesday marked the fifth annual Memorial Brick Dedication Ceremony, which memorializes members of the Maine Troop Greeters who have died. A group of living greeters and family members of dedicated members who passed away during the past year gathered to remember them at the Peter R. D’Errico Domestic Terminal at Bangor International Airport.
Outside the airport entrance, a white gazebo built in 2012 serves as a gathering place for troops waiting for their departures and as a dedicated smoking area. A short, brick pathway leading to that gazebo is engraved with the names of troop greeters who have died.
“These greeters are now part of our history,” said Deb Milner, chairwoman of the Maine Troop Greeters Board of Officers. “I know this is hard for you, because I’ve gone through this, too,” she told the family members.
The greeters added to the pavilion this year are Blanche G. Campbell, Audie Cookson, Philip Eckert, Leon F. Higgins II, James Jenkins, Lauri Katvala, Barry Knowles, Rich Lowney, Darrell McTigue, Sheila Merrill and Laurence Spinney.
With the names added this year, about 70 late greeters, including four dogs, are memorialized in brick.
The Maine Troop Greeters organized around 2003, greeting troops passing through Bangor International Airport, a frequent refueling point for military flights. The group’s origins stretch back to Desert Storm a decade earlier, but it grew in size throughout the 2000s and ultimately incorporated as the Maine Troop Greeters in 2008. Many members are aging veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and other conflicts.
Since 2003, members of the Maine Troop Greeters have ushered more than 1.5 million soldiers through Bangor International Airport — sometimes on their way home, sometimes on their way to war.
The airport doesn’t see nearly as many troops come through as it did during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Usually, there are only one or two flights coming through the airport each week, airport director Tony Caruso said.
“Which is good news,” he added.
Milner said there are about 265 active members of Maine Troop Greeters, and many more have participated in the past or donated to the cause.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.