Mayor Plans Parade For Proper Welcome Home For Troops

EL PASO – With theFourth Brigade troops now starting to return home from Iraq, the mayorof El Pasowants to make sure they get a proper welcome.

John Cook is leading an effortto organizea parade Downtown next February to honorFort Bliss troopsfortheir service in Iraq.

Cook said the parade will include nearly all 4,000 soldiers from the 4th-of-the-1st Cavalry Division. Cook said he plans to bus school children in for the parade, so they too can experience the ceremony.

“I think that’s very appropriate,” said John Williams, a father ofa Fort Bliss soldier deployed toIraq.”I think they should honor these troops – any troops whoare putting their lives on the line. I think it’s a good idea.”

Cook is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He said when he left to serve in 1968, he had no idea he’d return two years later to a much different country.”WhenI came home,I was greeted by war protestors and that had a significant emotional impact on me,” he said.

Cook also said he didn’t want the same thing to happen tothe Fort Bliss troops returning from abroad. “I was completely shocked asI walked out the gates of Fort Lewis and got pelted with an egg and people chanting ‘baby killer,'” he said.

“I actually wanted to break down and cry. I don’t want that to happen to our children. When they come back from war, we need to really show them we appreciate the sacrifice they made,” Cook said.

“Not all of them came home and that’s especially true with the 4-1 Cav.”Cook added.Thirty-one troops from the local division were killed while serving in Iraq, according to U.S. military records.

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By Darren Hunt, Miguel Martinez and Kevin Pytcher