Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103240083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Saturday, the 24-year Air Force veteran got much more than that from his friends and former neighbors.
Residents of the city's Norwich section - where Dent grew up - gave him a taste of the type of patriotic, community homecomings that all over the country have been welcoming home their soldiers from Saudi Arabia.
It wasn't ticker tape. It wasn't marching bands. It wasn't fireworks. It wasn't even outdoors, since Saturday's weather didn't cooperate.
But the celebration inside the concrete and tin walls of the community center at Norwich Park, complete with a brass band, coffee, punch and cookies, plenty of flags and about 100 old friends, was just enough for Dent.
"This is just awesome," said Dent, who spent seven months supervising repairs on F-15 jets in Dhahran. "It's great to see the support. . . . This is home to me."
Dent was one of three other Norwich natives who served in Persian Gulf. He was the first to return home.
The chief master sergeant with the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing returned two weeks ago to Langley Air Force Base, where he is stationed. He came to Roanoke Friday to visit his brothers, sisters, cousins and friends.
Dent's brother, Stuart, said the community celebration symbolized the support that the entire country threw behind U.S. military actions against Iraq.
"It makes me feel good," Stuart Dent said. "And it's going on all over the country."
When Pat Toney learned Dent would be returning for a visit to the old neighborhood, she and a few other residents organized the celebration. In a community where nearly everyone knows each other by name and grew up together, it's important to support one another, she said.
"We're a very small community, really," said Toney, a 50-year resident. "It's really like one big family."
"We're real close; a very knit community," said Kenneth Collins, whose son and daughter-in-law are serving in the Air Force in Korea and also were honored Saturday.
"This is a great thing to do," said Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor, who was invited to speak. "I applaud the community."
Dent said Saturday's celebration represented the change from 20 years ago in America's support of its soldiers. He said he and his crew felt that support in the hot sands of Saudi Arabia when boxes of letters and goodies came.
"It made it a whole lot easier on the folks over there," said Dent, who heads back to his base today.
by CNB