Houlton families send holiday wishes to troops

HOULTON – Despite gusting snow and frigid temperatures on Sunday, which were the same weather conditions when the 152nd Field Artillery Unit left in January, more than 30 family members turned out in Market Square to send seasons greetings to the men and women overseas.

Parents, spouses, siblings and children of the 40 area guardsmen who were deployed to Iraq nearly a year ago braved the biting wind and ice just long enough to have their picture snapped by a photographer beside the town’s massive Christmas tree.

The photo, which featured children holding signs and sporting snapshots of their loved ones, will be sent to Iraq to brighten up the holidays for the unit.

The late 2003 call-up took 30 percent of the unit’s total, and the group is expected to return to the United States in August or September. The battalion, which has batteries in Fort Kent, Caribou, Presque Isle, Houlton, Calais and Waterville, left Maine on Jan. 4, training in Fort Dix, N.J., briefly before heading to Iraq.

Sunday’s event was just one of the many events that the soldiers’ relatives have organized to show their support for the battalion. Shortly into the troops’ deployment, activities began mounting to supply them with everything from toiletries to phone cards and protective helmet liners.

Huddling beneath a thick parka, Houlton resident Eldon Bennett had just come from the annual Christmas party organized for the families of the 152nd Field Artillery Unit soldiers.

Bennett’s two sons, Trevor and Josh, are deployed with the unit and he last saw them when they were home on leave in July.

“They had a good crowd at the party,” he noted, adding that attendees were shown a video of the troops at their base in Iraq. “The children received presents from Santa Claus, and I think it cheered everyone up.”

Bennett, who spent 38 years in the military before his retirement, said that e-mail has made it much easier for his family to keep in contact with the two men.

“We talk over the computer all the time,” he acknowledged Sunday. “We’re busy buying them Christmas gifts, and they always tell us that they’re doing the ‘same old’ stuff over there. The time goes faster if they stay busy, and we always tell them what is happening around here.”

Stationed in the front row of the photograph, 7-year-old Drew Bennett didn’t hesitate when asked what she would tell her father and uncle if she had the chance.

“I miss them,” she replied quickly.