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Welcome home ceremony will highlight festival's opening weekend
Crosby is scheduled to be released Friday at midnight from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The Rock Hill native has been undergoing additional treatment this week while recovering from injuries suffered in a suicide bomb attack in the summer of 2007. Crosby was injured in the attack along with Ssg. Gregory Burton and Spc. Louis Beason. They are members of the local Company C, 218th Battalion of the South Carolina Army National Guard that just returned from a 16-month deployment in Afghanistan. The city will hold an official welcomehome ceremony honoring the troops Saturday at 11 a.m. behind the Michael Gaffney cabin. Special award presentations will be given to Crosby, Burton and Beason at the ceremony. "Ssgt. Crosby hopes he will be able to leave Walter Reed hospital late Friday night," festival promotions chairperson Leigh Ann Turner said. "If he is released, Crosby has told me he plans to travel all night so he can make it here for the ceremony. We hope and pray for his safe return." The welcome-home ceremony will be a highlight of the South Carolina Peach Festival's opening weekend. "Honoring Those Who Serve" is the official theme for a parade and downtown Family Fun Day. Activities begin with the festival parade at 9 a.m. in downtown Gaffney. Grand marshalls will be S.C. Adjutant General Stan Spears and local Army National Guard troops who served in Afghanistan. Soldiers will be available to meet the public following the ceremony. The festival's official T-shirt is based on a "Pave the Road Home" logo designed by a South Carolina National Guard artist. The festival will sell the T-shirts for $12 for all sizes except 2XL, which are $15. The festival will give $2 from all T-shirt sales to the local Family Readiness Group, which supports the county's military personnel. |
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