St. Agatha soldier gets enthusiastic welcome Spc. Kurt Walden rolls home in limousine

ST. AGATHA – Spc. Kurt Walden’s face was bright with excitement and surprise when he arrived Thursday morning at the town line.

A convoy was waiting for the 20-year-old soldier, a member of the Army’s famed 1st Armored Division.

Instead of tanks and Army green, this convoy was made up of a firetruck, a state police cruiser and a dozen or so other vehicles. All were ready to welcome him back to town and escort him to his parents’ home.

Walden had just arrived in a limousine from the Northern Maine Regional Airport.

Walden is home for two weeks, then will go to Germany to rejoin his division.

A 2002 graduate of Wisdom High School, Walden left for the service about a week after graduation. He had enlisted while still in school.

Since the start of the Iraq war, Walden has been in Baghdad, but his Alpha Company also has been diverted to various other Iraqi cities as hot spots develop. His company was in firefights in Kirkuk, Fallujah, Najaf and other places where armored tanks were sent.

On Thursday, he was met at the town line by about 25 members of his family and friends. After hugs and handshakes, he was escorted home by the convoy.

People all along the route, standing on their lawns and driveways, gave him thumbs up as he passed.

Vehicles moved aside to let his motorcade by and honked their horns. The staff at the St. Agatha Federal Credit Union was on the lawn applauding as he rode by.

Posters and signs were hanging here and there along the 5-mile route. They included “Welcome home Kurt,” “Thank You Kurt,” and “Welcome Home Kurt Walden.”

At the Knights of Columbus Hall, a more general sign proclaimed, “Thank Our Troops” and “Pray for Their Safe Return Home.”

At his home, flags and red, white and blue banners were on the garage and lawn. A sign said “Welcome home from Iraq Kurt!”

“It feels great to be back and to come home to something like this,” Walden said as he waved his arms around to where family and friends were standing. “I did not expect this.

“This is really nice,” he said before turning back to his friends.

“Hey!” he said as friends shook his hands and hugged him.

One girl hugged him and gave him a large jar filled with chocolate chip cookies.

“I’m just very, very happy, happy to have him home safe,” said his mother, Jeanne Martin, her face and voice full of emotion. “I feel like I’m the luckiest woman alive. This is a great town,” she said of the people who supported her son the 15 months he was in the war zone. “All the time he was in Iraq, people wrote to him and sent him cards and packages.”

The reception was organized by the St. Agatha Recreation Committee. They did the same for Steve Guimond earlier this spring.

“I think they plan to do this for all local military people when they return,” Town Manager Ryan Pelletier said.

The limousine was his mother’s idea. “We just wanted to make him feel very welcome,” she said.