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Finally, many of the nearly 500 V.I. National Guard soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan were officially welcomed home in a daylong event Saturday aimed at matching newly minted veterans with the services and help they need.
“This has been very, very helpful,” said Iraq vet and V.I. National Guard Sgt. Julian Williams, 35, who served in Balad in 2005 at Camp Anaconda.
Williams was among nearly 75 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who attended the homecoming ceremony at the edge of the basketball court section of the Emile Griffith Park Saturday.
After brief official ceremonies before noon, VING soldiers enjoyed a hot lunch combined of local bits like king fish and johnny cake and traditional barbecue fare of hot dogs and burgers. Their kids took off on several inflated bouncing rooms provided by the U.S. Veterans Administration and other groups dedicated to assisting war veterans with a smooth transition home.
During opening ceremonies, Gov. John deJongh Jr. thanked the mostly young veterans for their recent service and described how he got to understand the V.I. National Guard’s role after taking office.
“That’s when I truly began to appreciate that you were truly special,” he said, recounting how he has personally presented the American flag to four families who lost soldiers overseas. He described the services available -- from VA health benefits to home loan guarantees and help setting up small businesses in the territory -- and encouraged the veterans to pursue their options.
“You earned it,” he said, “and it is out of our gratitude that we will make sure you have it.”
Representatives from Delegate Donna Critiansen and the V.I. Legislature, the VA health care system and the national Wounded Warrior program welcomed the veterans home.
Maj. Gen. Renaldo Rivera, adjutant general of the VING and a Vietnam vet, offered a moment of silence as he took the dais. Guardsmen buried a fellow soldier nearby at Western Cemetery Friday, he said, and he asked the family in arms to bow their heads.
He recounted at least a dozen V.I. soldiers who have died serving overseas since the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq began in 2001.
He said the many booths and representatives from government and nonprofit organizations were gathered to ensure that in the Virgin Islands there is a “system that so that no one is missing.”
Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis Jr., a former VING soldier himself, implored the veterans to avail themselves of the dozen or so offers of help that came in the form of booths manned by representatives of the V.I. Department of Labor, the VA, the University of the Virgin Islands and the V.I. Business Development Center, among others.
“You need to take a look at what you have available and what you are doing for your families,” he told the troops. “The only way you are going to benefit is if you go, register, and sign up,” he said.
At least 484 V.I. National Guard soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, said Rivera.
Some 75 more arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday and another unit is due to arrive in Kosovo early this week after law enforcement training in Germany, he said.
“We didn’t have any of this,” Rivera said of Saturday’s welcome home ceremony, the second such event following a similar gathering on Nov. 7 on St. Croix. “We came from the war into a reception station and then home on the street. This is unique.”
At 83, St. Thomas octogenarian and Korean War-era veteran Jukes Olive said the considerations made for the current generation of veterans marks a turning point in the country’s attitude toward veterans.
“I wish we had that,” he said Saturday as he attended the event to give his support.
After the ceremony, as he eyed a plate of king fish and meatballs, Williams said he and others in his unit had a difficult time adjusting after serving a year in Iraq. Communities in the U.S. mainland seem to understand and care for their veterans better, he said.
“I’m starting to see it happen here, though, on a smaller scale,” he said. “It’s starting to catch on.”