After helping with the relief efforts in Louisiana for two
hurricanes, the National Guardsmen from the Bradford unit arrived
back home Saturday.
Stopping off at the Bradford armory for about 10 minutes, some
of the guardsmen got back on the bus to head to Erie to fill out
some paperwork, but otherwise they have come back home.
Sgt. Warren Shaw, a full-time Adman NCO from Bradford, said some
of the guardsmen said they missed the hills and mountains and said
it was nice to see them when they returned to Bradford. Shaw said
Louisiana is flat and swampy.
“We did miss football,” he said.
He said it was wonderful to be back in Bradford and said he was
just going to talk to his children and family and be thankful when
asked what was the first thing he was planning to do now that he’s
back.
“Besides helping the people down there, there’s nothing better
than coming home,” Shaw said.
Sgt. Edward Kestler, retention NCO and public relations NCO for
Charlie Company, 1/112th Inf. (mec), Pennsylvania Army National
Guard from Ridgway, Bradford and Erie, told The Era earlier this
month the company employed 103 guardsmen, about 50 of which are
from the Bradford unit.
On Sept. 5, a total of 109 soldiers from Charlie Company were
deployed by Gov. Ed Rendell to help in the recovery efforts from
Hurricane Katrina. After getting the unit together and completing
orientation at Alexander Air Force Base, the company then moved to
Hammond Parrish, about 40 miles north of New Orleans, to a tent
city nicknamed Camp Keystone, for the 28th Division, PANG.
On Sept. 25, Charlie Company moved from the eastern part of
Louisiana, where they were based in Camp Keystone, to the western
part of the state at the international airport at Lake Charles to
help with relief efforts from Hurricane Rita.
The company’s main mission was to set up and operate PODS, or
Points Of Distribution for Supplies. These PODS gave out food –
mostly, MRE’s, or meals ready to eat, water, ice, tarps and donated
items that were given by companies and individuals and the Letters
From Home program in Elk County.
Shaw said they set up all the PODS so people could take them
over and run them. He said they had a lot of repeat customers.
“A lot of places were leveled,” Shaw said. “There was a lot of
devastation. Some people lost everything. There was a lot of power
loss so the people down there didn’t have any way to keep food
cold. There were a lot of trees down.”
Shaw said a lot of people have seen the devastation in or around
New Orleans, but there were a lot of other places that were hit
harder by the hurricanes. He said there were a few of the guardsmen
that went to Slidell, La., and there was a lot of devastation
there. Shaw said the guardsmen that went there indicated there were
piles of timber at the end of each street. He also said that
Bogalusa, La., was hit very hard.
Shaw said there were kids that had been sleeping in their car
for three days. He said the cars were packed going into the
shelters provided by the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). He said during the first week, when they
had helped bring people in, there were 5,000 cars a day on each
side of the lines coming in.
Shaw said the Army provided them with everything they needed
while they were down there, but for the locals in Louisiana, they
had more problems getting supplies.
“They couldn’t order pizza,” he said. “They couldn’t get access
to candy bars. They didn’t have any of the creature comforts.”
Shaw said one of the priorities that the men were told they
needed was a personal air conditioner.
“Up here, it seems like a luxury, but it’s a necessary down
there,” he said. “It’s unbearably hot. The humidity is just
incredible.”
Shaw said it was sometimes 118 to 120 degrees there.
“All the people were very friendly,” Shaw said. “They were very
thankful for everything. Some of them brought us chicken, Domino’s
Pizza and some homemade ice cream. They were generous enough when
they could be. For the most part, everyone was very happy.”
Sgt. Frank Graves from the Bradford unit of Charlie Company said
the locals would make jokes that the rebels and Yankees had to come
down to help them, but they said they were all Americans.
“They found it hard to believe we came all the way from
Pennsylvania,” Shaw said. “They were very appreciative. A lot of
them asked, ‘Is there anything we can do for you?’ Everyone from
Louisiana said they would come up here and help if we ever needed
it. It was a big group effort.”
“The greatest part was the relief on people’s faces when they
knew they had food and water that they didn’t have when we first
got down there and the smiles on the faces of children,” Shaw said.
“Knowing that we brought some help.”
Shaw said he wanted to thank everyone from Pennsylvania,
especially those from the Ridgway and Bradford areas, that donated
time, goods and prayers. He said the guardsmen were thankful for
the Gerber knives they received before going since that seemed to
be the only way for people to open things down there.
“None of it sat on the truck, believe me,” Shaw said about the
supplies donated to the relief effort. “It was all put to good
use.”
