GWEN TIETGEN / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, July 10, 2006 7:00 pm
First Lt. Bret Wellensiek came home late Monday night. The soldier from Cook kept his emotions in check as about 40 relatives, teachers, friends and loved ones greeted him just outside of security at the Lincoln Airport.
The crowd, most of whom were from Cook, population 316, held flags and signs and cameras — a hero’s welcome.
They laughed and smiled and shed tears.
“Welcome home, Bret,” they said in unison, followed by cheers.
Wellensiek, 24, wheeled through the crowd of familiar faces, greeting them, receiving hugs and kisses.
Just then, the airport passengers waiting for their luggage below broke out in applause as if to thank the soldier for serving their country.
Yes, he’s in a wheelchair and his legs are in bandages from a roadside bomb that struck his platoon May 30 south of Baghdad.
He suffered a fractured left heel and a collapsed lung, among other injuries.
But he still has his spirit, and he’s expected to make a full recovery.
He’s most upset about the soldier in his platoon who died that day when Wellensiek and four others were wounded.
His platoon was a tank platoon, but they were walking that day, he said.
He has been recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, near San Antonio, since June 2. Now, he’s home for 30 days on leave and will return to Texas for rehabilitation.
He’s expected to be in rehab until about December.
On Monday night, he thanked everyone for their support. He couldn’t believe so many had gathered to greet him.
“I swear the entire town wrote me, plus 200 I didn’t know,” he said.
It has been a tough road for his parents, Dean and Jody Wellensiek, since they got the call from the U.S. Army the day he was injured.
The voice on the other end said their son was severely wounded and on ventilation. The couple were asked for their Social Security numbers in case the Army needed to fly them to Germany to be by his bed.
That was probably the scariest part, Dean Wellensiek said. A flight to Germany would mean their son was too injured to make it to an Army hospital in the U.S.
Since then, the family has been overwhelmed with support of friends, family and the community, Dean Wellensiek said. People have cooked, helped run errands and prayed for them.
Eleanor Kraenow, a friend who started babysitting Bret six weeks after he was born, said she wanted to make sure the hometown soldier got the welcome he deserved.
“You don’t expect things like this, but he came home with all four limbs, and he’s alive,” Kraenow said as she waited at the airport.
He’s young and strong, she said, and he’ll be all right.
Wellensiek graduated from Nemaha Valley High School in 2000 and from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004. There, he was involved in ROTC.
Brother Kyle Wellensiek, 18, said the last several weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions for his parents and sisters, Anne, 21, and Kate, 15.
“It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “I guess we’re on the way up now.”
Reach Gwen Tietgen at 473-7242 or gtietgen@journalstar.com.
National Guard soldiers set to return Thursday
About 35 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers are set to return to Nebraska Thursday after serving about a year in Afghanistan.
They are set to return to the National Guard air base in Lincoln about 4:30 p.m. A welcome home ceremony will be held afterward. Due to space constraints, the ceremony is not open to the general public.
The soldiers are members of the Camp Ashland-based 209th Regional Training Institute and have been serving in Afghanistan since July 2005. While there, they helped train Afghanistan’s new national army.
They are currently at Fort Stewart, Ga., undergoing demobilization and administrative processing. The soldiers are commanded by Col. Ronald Schrock of Lincoln.