|
Thanksgiving has brought a special blessing for Sgt. Michael D. Golleher of Benton and his family.  Sgt. Michael d. Golleher poses for a photo with some Iraqi children. Golleher arrived home in Benton Wednesday night after serving the past 14 months in Iraq as part of the Army’s 2nd Striper Battalion. Golleher, 24, is a 2002 graduate of Bryant High School. (Photos special to the Courier)
Golleher, who is part of the Army’s Second Striper Battal-ion, is reunited with his family. He arrived home Wednesday night after serving the past 14 months in Iraq.
In 2003, just before Opera-tion Iraqi Freedom began, Golleher, now 24, informed his family of an important decision.
“He came to me and in-formed me that he wanted to join the military,” Golleher’s mother, Paula Duran of Benton, said. She recalls thinking that her son “has made a grown-up decision,” and said she didn’t try to talk him out of it. Instead, she and other family members did their best to support her son’s desire to serve his country.
“At first it was just the Army Reserve,” she said.
Golleher, a 2002 Bryant High School graduate who was then 18, left Saline County on April 14, 2003, to undergo basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He graduated Aug. 1.
“My mother (Earline McCallister) and I traveled to see him graduate,” Duran said. “It was a lot of fun. I was very proud. After he came home, he was a weekend warrior.”
But this wasn’t enough for Golleher, she said.
“In 2005, he and two of his other buddies decided to join the Army full-time,” she said. “I was very worried at what this implied. His MOS (military occupation specialty) was combat engineer, but he wanted to to change that to become an intelligence analyst.”
This resulted in Duran and others close to Golleher being interviewed by government officials about his ability to serve in the job he was seeking.
“They asked me if I thought Michael would be good at keeping top secrets,” she said. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I can hardly get him to tell us things that are going on in his life.’”
Golleher’s friend, Jason, also changed his MOS. Another friend, Dustin, stayed on as combat engineer.
“Michael and Jason were sent to Arizona,” Duran said. “Dustin was sent to Fort Carson in Colorado and was sent to Iraq soon after that. Sadly, he was killed in Baqouba on Jan. 17, 2006. His humvee was struck by an Abrams tank. This was very hard on Michael and the rest of their close friends.”
This didn’t deter Golleher’s dedication to his military commitment. He completed his studies in Arizona and then was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington state, where he was stationed for a few months before being sent to Vilisec, Germany.
“While he was in Germany, I knew in the back of my mind that he was probably heading to Iraq,” Duran said. “I tried to keep that thought suppressed as long as I could.
“Michael let me know this was a huge possibility,” she continued. “I just didn’t want to entertain that thought too much. We kept in contact and he let me know that in fact he was headed to Iraq around August. That was tough.”
“He served the first part of his time in Iraq in Baghdad. At some point, reading e-mails and looking at his Myspace page, I was looking through his pictures and saw that these pictures were taken on the streets of Iraq.
“What a shocker,” she said. “His job over there required him to be inside with a computer in front of him, so I was really scared when I saw that. He told me a story of him being on the streets and how a little Iraqi girl came to him with a splinter buried deep in her hand, which was infected.
“He said he knelt down beside her and took out his medical kit and dug out the splinter. He put some Neosporin and a bandage on it, and she jumped in his arms and hugged him.
“Michael said, ‘Mom, it made me feel so good to help her. It made me want to stay there on the streets and help more people.’
“I told him she will never forget your face and you won’t forget hers. It truly brought tears to my eyes hearing that story.”
Being able to communicate during his deployment has been helpful to both the soldier and his mother, Duran said. “We got to talk on the phone and through e-mails,” she said.
Communication is so different now, Duran said. “This has been in marked contrast to the situation that existed with my father, who served in World War II, or even my brother, who’s a Vietnam veteran.”
Duran said the family has a “long list of servicemen in our families, on both sides. Michael’s great-grandfather, Henry W. Golleher, served in World War I. His name is carved into the memorial on the [Saline County] courthouse square.”
She said the countdown to her son’s return began Oct. 25 when he called to let the family know he was safe in Germany.
“It has been a long, tough time with him being gone,” Duran said. “A lot of tears have been shed from missing him so much. I can honestly say that I have prayed more in the last year than I’ve prayed ever.
“I know that this plane ride home was the best and the most exciting,” she added.
Duran said the family was jubilant upon learning that Golleher would arrive home the day before Thanksgiving.
“There have been a lot of missed birthdays and he’s been away at Christmas. This year he will home for Christmas, too. After the first of the year, he will return to Germany for six months and then his time in the military will be over.”
Today, though, on this uniquely American holiday, Golleher is enjoying a reunion with family and friends and all are thankful for their blessings, including the freedoms that Golleher and others like him have sacrificed to preserve.
|
Razorbacks
