Airman 1st Class Zac Cuddeback comes home
Airman 1st Class Zac Cuddeback was killed on a bus at Frankfurt Airport last week. Brig. Gen. Mark Dillon,
the 86th Airlift Wing commander, took him home this week and recounts the final miles;
We missed Zac’s arrival by a couple of hours but later that night, as we approached the town of O’Fallon, we started seeing them — American flags — hundreds upon hundreds of them.
Perhaps it was because we have been living outside the United States for a while, or maybe it had been a long flight from Germany, or maybe it was a pure patriotism. Whatever the reason, as we started passing the flags our car fell silent.
For miles we passed flags on both sides of the road. And then as we entered O’Fallon, we didn’t just see flags, we now noticed the billboards too. Yes every billboard — churches, schools, and businesses — all had a message honoring Airman Cuddeback. Dozens of them.
Needless to say, these symbols of a community’s support — American flags and billboard messages dedicated to Zac — put a lump in my throat.
And then, when we thought we couldn’t see any more outpouring from this community, it happened. It happened as we began our 4-mile drive to the cemetery. It happened as we drove through neighborhoods and along country roads.
It was on the drive we saw them; hundreds; no, not hundreds, but thousands. Thousands of O’Fallon citizens lining the route to honor Airman Cuddeback.
They stood silently on both sides of the road. They stood with American flags in hand. They stood holding up homemade signs. They stood saluting. They stood in their front yards. They stood next to an industrial-sized crane flying a massive American flag above the procession.
Thanks to Tankerswife for the link.
Category: Support the troops
May God Bless this family. The Community and all those that new this Hero! God Bless our Troops and our Veterans…
Thanks for sharing
We’re here. I know it seems like we’ve gone to hell in a handbasket, but there are millions of people in this nation that might not understand geopolitical issues – but they know that people like the Airman have voluntarily given their lives for us. They know that losses aren’t numbers – they are men and women – someone’s son or daughter, someone’s husband or wife.
The gripes are with the president, the congress, even the Pentagon – but for the troops? Nope. It’s deep appreciation and a real sense of loss.
How did the Westboro fags miss out on this opportunity to win hearts and minds?
#3 Too damned close to their homes, these Illini, would have followed the Phred Phelps Phags home and burned them out.
Westboro scum was kept at bay by many Illinois State Troopers, O’Fallon IL PD, and a bunch of O’Fallon and surrounding community residents not to mention the hundreds of Vets that live in this area. They were confined to a 12×12 roped off area in a parking lot a couple of miles away from anything that had to do with return and funeral of this amazing young man.
There are still TRUE BELIEVERS in this country. God speed Brother, thank you for your sacrifice.
@ #5 – Well done! Too bad more municipalities don’t use the same tactic. Once they get that treatment they usually do not show up again. Down here in SE Texas an identical deal was done to ’em. The heat dang near melted ’em too it was hotter n hades . LOL!
#7: “The heat dang near melted ‘em too it was hotter n hades . LOL!”
As an acquaintance of mine wrote recently, “You reap what you sow…I don’t even want to be in the same area code when The Man comes around…” to settle the score with Phelps and his band of inbred, mouth breathing peckerwoods.
I will bet a good $50 bottle of Irish Single Malt that Phelps and his entire family will one day be very, very familiar with just how hot it is in Hell.
Phelps and his ilk make me wish for just a moment that I actually believed in a ‘Hell’, even if only to gain a measure of comfort knowing they would never actualy ‘rest in peace’.
“Phelps and his band of inbred, mouth breathing peckerwoods.” Spigot, you just have a great gift for putting things in the proper perspective. Now, I’ll clean off my monitor.
Seriously, there are more people than we know, who truly appreciate the men and women who serve, and sadly, it takes something like this for it to be known. God bless Zac Cuddeback, his family, friends, and his neighbors and all who showed what America really is.
I had gotten the emailed alert requesting help putting the flags out. Unfortunately, I had a test in school I couldn’t miss.
I think the mayor of O’Fallon handled the Phelps issue splendidly. He allowed him his constitutional right to assemble, but also kept the Cuddeback family’s right to privacy and peace. There were over a hundred Patriot Guard there.
The best part of this for me…A1C Cuddeback wasn’t killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. But the town and surrounding areas treated him as the hero he was regardless. Unfortunately, those that are killed or injured not while in theater are often overlooked. It was truly awe-inspiring what this area does for its military members.