I was very shocked to see all of the front-page articles and all the TV coverage about the New England Patriots football team arrival in Portland. The real patriots returned home to Maine on April 6.

The state and town police did a marvelous job in their escort from the Kennebunk Plaza to Bangor and are to be commended for it. I know, for I was in the convoy with the four buses all the way.

As one soldier, Tom Driscoll of Winthrop stated, “We hadn’t been able to remain together up to New Hampshire because of the traffic going in and out among us.”

The state troopers in New Hampshire unexpectedly had met them and had pushed the traffic aside to make way for the men and women of the 112th Army National Guard Medical Unit.

They had “herded us up like sheep dogs, and they escorted us to the Maine border where the Maine State Troopers were waiting. That was the first moment that we really knew we were coming home. We were in civilian buses so no one would know who we were along their route. We had passed through Massachusetts unnoticed. The state troopers in Maine escorted us to Bangor with blue lights flashing. Police from towns along the way were in wait and led us through their town limits along the interstate.”

I hope in the future that more exposure and welcome is shown to those who have put their lives on the line.
Larry Dearborn, Richmond

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