Lakewood Civic Auditorium

Soldiers welcomed home at Lakewood Civic Auditorium ceremony

LAKEWOOD Ohio National Guard soldiers from the 112th Engineer Battalion in Brook Park returned home July 8 to the cheers and embraces of friends and family. They were formally welcomed with a ceremony at Lakewood Civic Auditorium.

All members of the unit, which included about 180 soldiers, returned from a yearlong deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

The homecoming brought to an end a year of waiting by appreciative loved ones.

“I can’t believe this day finally came,” said a proud Terrence Schneider Sr. His son, Sgt. Terrence Schneider Jr., of Lakewood, was previously deployed to Iraq. The younger Schneider said the homecoming was more special this time because he got to step off the bus in the city where he lives with his wife, Stephanie.

Schneider returned with the rest of the two companies that were sent to command, control and support the larger Task Force Predator, a group of 750 personnel assigned to conduct route clearance missions. This included searching for improvised explosive devices, among other jobs.

The task force was composed of regular Army units and National Guard units from Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Mississippi. The group conducted 2,142 route clearance missions throughout eastern Afghanistan, clearing nearly 84,000 miles of roadway. Eight soldiers from states other than Ohio were killed in action during the deployment and 105 soldiers were wounded in action.

Awards and decorations for the Ohio soldiers included 36 Bronze Star medals, 31 Combat Action Badges and two Purple Heart medals. At the official welcoming ceremony, Ohio Adjutant General Deborah Ashenhurst thanked not only the soldiers, but what she called the “power behind the power” — the soldiers’ families — who supported them and kept the homefront running smoothly while they were gone.

One of those family members was Sarah McCarty, wife of Sgt. 1st Class Patrick McCarty of Warren. She said she’s learned to do new household chores in the past year, such as tearing out carpeting and changing a shower head. Two family members died during her husband’s deployment, but there were good times during the year too, she added.

“It’s been a year of maturity, trusting in God and growing closer to my family.”

See more Lakewood, Ohio news at cleveland.com/lakewood.