43
80 members of the 910th Airlift Wing came home and more are expected soon
Reservists Return
Video
More than 80 Air Force Reserve members from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station returned from a four month deployment to Southwest Asia.
Reservists Return
Gallery
More than 80 reservists from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station returned from a four month deployment in southwest Asia.
VIENNA
Like a crowd flooding the football field after a big win, families and friends rushed the tarmac at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station on Wednesday to greet the men and women of the 910th Airlift Wing as they debarked from their C-130H cargo aircraft after a four-month deployment in Southwest Asia.
Kids and spouses jumped up and down with excitement and carried signs welcoming their loved ones home with hugs and kisses and more than a few tears.
About 80 members of the 910th’s 757th Airlift Squadron, the 910th Maintenance Group and other supporting squadrons returned between 3:30 and 4 p.m. They are about half of more that 170 citizen airmen returning after a 120-day deployment. The remainder deployed are scheduled to return soon, 910th officials said.
“After I give him a big hug, I’m going to buy my man a beer,” laughed Elizabeth Ference of Fowler, who was on hand to greet Air Force Lt. Col. Jay Ference, along with their sons, Levi, 5, and Canaan, 3, who were holding a sign saying “Welcome Home Daddy.” Also there were Ference’s parents, Sharon and Francis Ference of Hermitage, Pa.
Among the large group anxious to see the returning husbands, fathers, sons and wives were Sarah Endlich and her son, Kinley, 2. Sarah said she was anxious to get her husband, Lt. Col. Roark Endlich, back to their home to New Philadelphia. Another daughter, Katie, 17, was unable to attend the homecoming.
Steve and Karen Bungo of Howland said they were there to greet their neighbor, Mike Gassman, who returned home from 21/2 away from his family – his third deployment in the past eight years.
“They [the Bungos] are like our parents,” said Jen Gassman, Mike’s wife, a first-grade teacher in Girard, who said she planned to prepare a home-cooked dinner for her husband.
The Gassmans’ daughters, Maddy, 9, and Ally, 8, kept their sign welcoming their father home short and to the point. It just said “Dad.”
Master Sgt. Donald McCormick, a full-time air reserve technician at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station who served 11 years on active duty, was reunited with his wife, Paige.
McCormick of Bristolville, originally of McDonald, who has had six deployments including Desert Storm, admitted they “seem to get harder each time, especially during the holidays when you tend to think more about your family.”
Deployment and being away from family is never easy, said state Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, a pilot with the 910th.
“It was particularly difficult for this group because they were away during the holidays, Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve. It’s is even harder for the families,” Boccieri said.