Community Corner
5 Times a Charm: Orland Soldier Receives Proper Welcome
U.S. Army Specialist Erik Vaitkus receives a warm welcome home to Orland Park after a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Erik Vaitkus didn’t receive a hero’s welcome the other four times he came home after serving active tours of duty. But keeping the surprise welcome from him after his fifth tour still wasn’t easy, said his wife Carrie.
Vaitkus, a specialist in the U.S. Army who finished a tour of duty in Afghanistan, was greeted to a full procession organized by the Soldiers Guardian Angels, the Orland Park Veterans Commission and dozens of other military supporters from the area. The procession, led by fire trucks from the Orland Fire Protection District, went from Chi-Town Harley Davidson, up Wolf Road to the Vaitkus’s home off of 143rd Street.
“I’m happy to be home, and this made it that much better,” Erik Vaitkus said.
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Tinley Park Patch recently produced a photo gallery of the welcoming.
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