Updated at 10:23 a.m., Friday, January 14, 2005
Schofield soldiers return to open arms
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| Sgt. Ola Famuyiwa of the 84th Engineer Battalion hugs wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Grace, after arriving at at Wheeler Army Airfield.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser |
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Olivia Davis stayed up way past her bedtime Wednesday night, but her mother didn't mind because Daddy was coming home.
Spc Daniel Kelly/U.S. Army Spc Daniel Kelly/U.S. Army Spc Daniel Kelly/U.S. Army "Oh, my gosh, it was so great," said an exhausted Ruth Davis, an English teacher at Moanalua High School. "It is just such a relief that they are all home."
She and Olivia were among several hundred relatives and friends who greeted the 240 Schofield Barracks soldiers late Wednesday night and early yesterday morning.
Coming home were soldiers from the 84th Engineer Battalion and 540th Quartermaster Company at Wheeler. The 84th is a heavy equipment battalion that built roads and runways in and around Balad. The 540th is a field service company that operated shower and laundry facilities, made light textile repairs in and around Mosul, and conducted convoy missions.
Ruth Davis said she and three other soldiers' families didn't get home until 3 a.m. Davis said her husband and the other soldiers stayed awake to take showers, make fresh sandwiches and just hang out in a non-combat zone. Davis credited her students at Moanalua High School for helping her get through the lonely months.
"They taught me so much about patience and loyalty. That really got me through. That and my daughter," she said.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com. Staff Writer Mike Gordon contributed to this report.
The youngster's father, Staff Sgt. Bryan Davis, is an Army medic who spent the last 12 months in Iraq. That's why Olivia's mom, Ruth Davis, let her stay up till midnight to greet her father at Wheeler Army Air- field. Olivia spent the next 14 hours glued to her father's side.
Olivia Davis, 4, and her mother, Ruth, cheer for Staff Sgt. Bryan Davis, a medic with the 84th Engineer Battalion, during a welcome home ceremony at Wheeler Army Airfield.
Olivia gets a big hug from her father.
This spouse couldn't wait for the ceremony to be over to hold her husband once more. More than 240 soldiers from the 84th Engineer Battalion and 540th Quartermaster Company returned Wednesday and yesterday to Wheeler Army Airfield after serving a year in Iraq.
