David Jay, with KTVQ-TV, has great video of a soldier’s surprise homecoming in Billings.
Click below to watch the report, or click here for a link:
Plus, if you’re looking for a way to help the troops still in the fight, check out the below e-mail from Susan Reneau with the United Veterans Council in Missoula:
Note that we will continue raising money for “Comfort Kits for the Troops” but the first round of comfort kits will be assembled Sunday, April 17.
Please come with lots of items to include in Bravo Troop “Comfort Kits” on Sunday, April 17 at 1 p.m. at the American Legion hall, 825 Ronan Street in Missoula. We will start at 1 p.m. and continue until we fill hundreds of Zip-Lock bags filled with such items as small lotion bottles, small Kleenex packs, small packets of diaper wipes, packs of gum, small packs of cotton balls, safety pins, small packs of Band-aides and anything that will bring our Bravo Company troops and troops from Montana comfort. The purpose of the comfort kits is to provide items the troops normally don’t have in their backpacks so they can have items to use when they are on campaigns in the field. The comfort kits also remind them that they are loved and appreciated by us, which is the most important reason why we are doing these comfort kits.
Even if you aren’t in Montana, you can help us by sending a donation of any amount to purchase comfort items for the kits. We also need check donations to pay for shipping of the care packages to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and other hot spots around the world.
Checks can be made out to United Veteran’s Council of Missoula and Ravalli Counties and mailed to P.O. Box 5201, Missoula, MT 59806-5201. Mark the check “for troop comfort kits” so UVC knows where this money goes. I’m sending this e-mail to our treasurer so he will look for any checks. All donations to the UVC are tax deductible as we are a 501-c3 non-profit corporation dedicated to help veterans and active-duty military in our local area.
To date, ACE Hardware, Albertson’s, Safeway, Target, Walgreens and Walmart have offered to help but more businesses and hospitals have been approached and the list keeps growing across the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys. This whole idea started on Sunday, March 20 when the wives and children of Bravo Company and members of the American Legion Post and Auxiliary met to make camo Easter eggs filled with candies for Bravo Company.
A female active-duty Army soldier and the wives of Bravo Company of the Montana National Guard thought of this project and the American Legion Auxiliary and Post offered their hall at 825 Ronan Street in Missoula to assemble the comfort kits on April 17 and the rest is history . . . There are 150 men and women of Bravo Company of the Montana National Guard that are in Iraq right now that we are sending these comfort kits to BUT if we collect enough items and donations, we’ll make enough comfort kits for ALL Montana active-duty troops from any branch of service to send to Iraq and Afghanistan. That totals about 700 to 900 men and women active-duty soldiers, Marines, sailors and National Guard. AND, if we collect enough items and donations, we will expand this project to other troop units overseas.
If you can’t attend the April 17 assembly project at the American Legion hall, please drop off items at Majestic Madness Beauty Salon at 1365 W. Broadway Street in Missoula during regular working hours. Please do not leave donated items in front of their store after hours. Various media outlets are also offering to drop off items and check donations with them so listen to announcements of where to drop off comfort kit items. Everything donated must be new and sealed.
Anyone hearing this announcement or reading this e-mail can help, even if they aren’t in the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys because we hope to make comfort kits for EVERY Montana active-duty military man and woman. We’re starting with Bravo Company because they are based in Missoula.
Thanks for passing this along and please come on April 17 to assemble the comfort kits.
AND, remember Memorial Day services, all ten of them, are coming up on Monday, May 30. If you want to participate as a member of an honor or color guard, please contact me. We have ten services starting at 10 a.m. and continuing through 4:30 p.m. throughout the Missoula Valley on that day. We have the most number of Memorial Day services in one day for any community in the U.S.A.
Susan Campbell Reneau
Secretary, United Veteran’s Council
President, American Legion Auxiliary, Hellgate Unit 27
Daughter of a 27-year U.S. Marine who served from 1941-1968
Wife of an Army sergeant who served in Vietnam
Life Member of the VFW and American Legion Auxiliaries