Last of the Marines ride home

[thedrifter]

Last of the Marines ride home

Green Bay reservists are all back from Iraq
By Monique Balas
News-Chronicle
They pulled up in a white limo to a cheering crowd and swarms of media. No, it wasn't Oscar Night at the Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, but for families of the last 10 members of a Marine fuel unit to return from Iraq, it was the best type of party ever.

The rear party of Detachment, Bulk Fuel Company Bravo, 6th Engineering Support Battalion, arrived from Camp Pendleton, Calif., were greeted by a loving group of their biggest fans - their families.

"You're afraid for him constantly," said Lynn Gossen, whose son Felix Van Enkenvoort of Green Bay returned Thursday. "The mail was really slow. He still hasn't received some of the letters I wrote him," she said. Van Enkenvoort said the thing he missed most was greenery.

"It's a really brown country," he said.

Meanwhile, blond-haired Lance Cpl. Michael Volz was the star of the show as his trains of relatives surrounded him.

"I couldn't wait to come back," Volz, of Cambellsport, told reporters as he juggled his son Michael Jr. in his arms.

"We all love him and miss him and are very proud of him," said his older sister Cathy Fay, as the family waited impatiently for the Marines' arrival.

She said she was fearful of his choice to come home early so he could continue to serve in Iraq.

"I think the war's on now," Fay said. "That's why I'm glad he's out."

While they waited, Volz's sisters told stories of his bravery: How he went three days without food because he saved his MREs for starving Iraqi children, how he carried a corner of his young son's blanket with him during his days in Iraq.

The last of the company remained in Iraq after other parts of the battalion came home in early June to clean and prepare their vehicles, fuel pumps and other gear.

"They just want to make sure the gear's clean," Cook said. "Regardless of where it was, it would go through the same process."



Ridolfi, leads the entourage in a limosine of 10 U.S. Marines returning from Iraq at the U.S. Naval & Marine Center, 2949 Ramada Way (photo by Tina Gohr).



Sempers,

Roger