Navy MA2 Stephen Emerson Welcome Home Reception 9/14/09

A Generous Guy Gets His Warm Welcome and Thanks!

Churchville PA –  Both the Warriors Watch and A Hero’s Welcome had a contingent of veterans and veteran motorcyclists greet Stephen at the airport and escorted him and his family to his home in the Churchville section of Northampton Township where neighbors and friends held a big welcome home reception.

Since Emerson was home for only 6 days and no public meeting was scheduled during his leave, his military flag was presented to Stephen by Supervisors Chairman Vincent Deon when he reached his home from the airport, with the help of Peter Palestina from the Marine Corps League.

The video below is a brief clip of the ceremony. If you cannot view it here, go to the source at Photobucket.com, by clicking here here and view it online.

The sailor, Navy MA2 Stephen Emerson, returned from his second tour in Iraq. He is currently at his home base in Jacksonville , FL where, after demobilization at Camp Pendleton , CA , he had to go to his home base in Jacksonville , to secure his canine military working partner “Dingo” and stay long enough to get the kennels in shape and qualify another canine for active duty..

During his first tour in Iraq, he and Dingo twice found caches of weapons buried in the desert by the enemy.

Steve is the type of individual who, upon realizing that many of his comrades were coming home and no one was there to welcome them he started a program in his home base at Jacksonville, where he has a group of guys and gals from the base greet every person returning from Iraq or Afghanistan….now it’s his turn to come home.

Since that welcome home initiative was so important to him, the Warriors Watch, A Hero’s Welcome and Northampton Township officials thought it would be nice to be able to do something special for him.

Northampton Township has a flag program honoring its resident soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hostile areas.

A military flag denoting the person’s branch of service with a streamer identifying the name of the person is placed in a township display stand. Once the soldier returns home, the Township officials present the service flag to him or her at a public meeting and replace it with an American flag.

To quote Steve’s mom, “I could go on and on about our son, Steve’s, personal achievements and awards in the Navy, but suffice to say, this is a young man who, after 9-11 felt a commitment to serve his country, despite his friends strongly discouraging him to enlist. When his first four year tour in the Navy did not include a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, he re-enlisted in order to increase his chances to do what he said was ‘his part’…. and he has done that now …. twice. Steve is every mother’s dream. A true role model of good character. He is kind, considerate, honest, has a great work ethic, a terrific sense of humor, and loves his family with all his heart. So, yes, we are extremely proud of him, and are looking forward to welcoming him home with the honor we feel he deserves. We sincerely thank those helping us accomplish our mission.”