Thirteen Marines coming home from Afghanistan received an unexpected welcome after spending five days traveling back to the states. Upon arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, they were greeted by cheers from a crowd of police, a fire truck water salute and first-class plane tickets before they departed to their final destination of San Diego, Calif.
Their plane taxied beneath an arch of water from fire department hoses in what's called a "water salute," and when the Marines walked into the terminal, they were greeted by a small crowd of cheering USO volunteers, police officers, firefighters and airport workers, The Washington Post reports.
Upon boarding another jet for San Diego, the Marines learned that American Airlines--which has a policy to upgrade servicemen and woman when seats are available--had six empty seats in first class. Seven first-class passengers then gave up their seats so all of the Marines could sit together.
"It was incredibly touching," Capt. Pravin Rajan said in a telephone interview from Camp Pendleton in California. "Afghanistan is a very complex and ambiguous war ... and a difficult thing to keep track of so it is amazing when we are 10 years (into) a war and there is still that kind of community, that level of support, the level of willingness to go out of one's way."
The welcome home was initiated by Stephane Hare, an Illinois native who now works in England. She called the USO at O'Hare and said that her finance, Rajan, had served seven months in Afghanistan and was bound for Chicago on a plane with a dozen other Marines.
"I just thought if they could get them some Chicago pizza, champagne or something, that would mean a lot," she said.
She contacted John Colas, a 74-year-old former Marine USO volunteer. He told Hare that he would try to set up a welcome. Colas then called police and fire departments, the airlines and anyone else he could think of.
"There must have been 15 Chicago firemen and an equal number of Chicago police and they formed a corridor for the Marines when they got off the airplane," he told reporters.
When the Marines first landed and saw the firetrucks, they thought something was wrong. When they realized that it was a reception for them, they were overwhelmed by the warm welcome.
"They were just so thankful - very, very appreciative," said Linda Kozma, an American Airlines employee who helps military personnel flying in and out of O'Hare.
"I just thought it was really beautiful," she added.