Sean C. Morgan
U.S. Army Sgt. Nobel King presented his unit flag and a photo of his unit to Hawthorne Elementary School Friday afternoon.
Sgt. King recently returned to Sweet Home from his base in Ansbach, Germany, after several months in Kuwait and Iraq.
As he walked the halls of Hawthorne, students stopped him asking him about the war and whether Saddam had been caught. One girl said she planned on joining the military.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars also presented a flag to the school in recognition of its support for soldiers fighting in Iraq. Early this year as the United States began sending troops to Kuwait, Sgt. King’s mother, Michele King, organized a program at Hawthorne to send boxes to soldiers in Kuwait and Iraq.
The boxes included a variety of personal goods, ranging from toothpaste to wet wipes.
“I just want to let you guys know that meant a lot to us,” Sgt. King told an assembly at Hawthorne.
The sixth-grade class presented Mrs. King with a flag holder to recognize her efforts, which continue today with several Sweet Home soldiers still in Iraq.
Sgt. King spent time with the fourth through sixth grades answering questions.
He explained his mission as a member of a Patriot missile battery. He drove truck and helped maintain navigational electronics.
The equipment is delicate, and sometimes, needed parts were unavailable, so Sgt. King and his fellow soldiers often had to bypass missing parts.
Initially staged in Kuwait, his unit shot down two incoming SCUD missiles, saving the headquarters with its generals and war planners, one on March 25 and one on March 27. The event was documented on CNN after the information was released.
After the war started, his unit was moved to an airbase near Nazireah where it stayed until mid-April. By then, Iraq had no SCUDs or launchers left, and Sgt. King’s unit no longer had a mission. His unit went back to Kuwait where it loaded their equipment onto ships and aircraft before returning to Germany in mid-July.
The sandstorms were one of the most different parts of living and working in the desert, Sgt. King said. Soldiers would sleep on or next to their vehicles, pulling their panchos up over their heads for shade. They used “anything we could find.”
His unit acquired a parachute to help provide shade. British engineers provided eight sheets of plywood to his unit. Those were used as a sort of patio.
“You get in your sleeping bag, pull it over your head, cover up and hope it stops,” Sgt. King said of the sandstorms. They did not have space for tents. It was “either that of food.”
Soldiers washed their clothes in a five-gallon bucket. In his unit, 100 men shared that bucket, but they managed.
In fact, they thought they had done rather well keeping clean, Sgt. King said. When they returned to Kuwait, they took showers and put their “clean” clothes on. The Air Force guys were all standing around looking at them.
“Then we just started smelling each other,” Sgt. King said. They went “28 days straight without a shower.”
In the field, the soldiers adapted an eyewash station into a shower by heating water in the sun, which was quick, and using a pressurized canister to push the water.
At their air base, some seven miles away, Sgt. King could hear fighting at Nazireah all night long.
“We saw the action, but luckily we didn’t have to do anything,” Sgt. King said.
Sgt. King’s unit was originally supposed to be with Jessica Lynch’s convoy. She was captured and later rescued under the protection of Sgt. King’s air defense unit. A sandstorm kept his unit from joining that convoy.
“We did a lot better than a lot of people thought we would,” Sgt. King said of the war. From being there and seeing the people liberated, “I’m glad we did what we did.”
He was able to see firsthand the freedom brought to the Iraqis. When he arrived there, no one was on the streets. By the time he was leaving, Iraqis were on the street and working on rebuilding.
“It feels good,” Sgt. King said of coming home. “It’s nice to see my parents again and to thank the school for what they did for us. It’s more than they know. From here, a box with a note saying, ‘you’re doing great,’ and nothing it, a soldier would be happy.”
Sgt. King’s father, Lloyd King, a Vietnam veteran, is happy to see how soldiers are being treated during and after this war.
During Vietnam, “you didn’t dare say you were a veteran or in the service because y ou were dirty, that’s how you were treated if they found out,” Mr. King said, so he considers the reception to returning soldiers now as “wonderful.”
Sgt. King is on leave until Oct. 16 when he will return to Germany and his family, which includes his wife, Lisa, and children, Megan, 11, and Tanner, 5. While here, he plans on hunting, spending time with his family and SCUBA diving. His wife and children visited Sweet Home while he was in Iraq.
“I just want to thank everyone in Sweet Home supported the troops, still supports the troops,” Sgt. King said. “Even if they don’t get personally thanked, there are a lot of soldiers out there that are grateful for what they are doing.”
Hawthorne School is still supplying boxes to units including Pfc. Brad Martinez, Army; Spc. Michael Shirley, Army; Pvt. Michael Harris, Army; Spc. John R. Thoma, Marines; and Cpl. Timothy Saulmon, Marines.
For more information or to donate, persons may call Mrs. King at 367-7193.