Units of the New Jersey National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery, Charlie Battery and Detachment 1 Service, who call the Toms River Armory and Ocean County their home will be greeted with a series of welcome home events. Headlining the welcome home celebration will be the Lakewood BlueClaws’ Opening Day April 7 at FirstEnergy Park.
“Based on the strong turnout we had for the troop send-off in November for our soldiers going to Germany, staging a large scale ‘welcome home’ was becoming a real problem because of timing and facility conflicts,” said Bernard Viggiani, community liaison for the Toms River Armory Family Readiness Group. “The Lakewood BlueClaws have stepped up to the plate and offered to shift the focus off Opening Day to ‘Welcome Home Citizen Soldiers’ in honor of the returning troops of the New Jersey Army National Guard.
“Geoff Brown, general manager of the BlueClaws, calls us on a routine basis to check on the troops and their families, found out our dilemma and immediately offered opening day at the ballpark.”
Representation on the field from all 33 townships is expected at the ceremony. The public can expect to see a grand entrance of soldiers along with some of their military vehicles.
The troops were mobilized more than a year ago, leaving their families and full-time jobs, and deployed to Iraq.
The welcome home celebration will commence at 6:15 p.m. as a pre-game activity on opening day with the Lakewood BlueClaws at FirstEnergy Park. Groups and organizations wishing to sit together so they can be recognized by the troops are encouraged to reserve their seats now.