A Welcome Sight

East Hampton’s newest tradition was on display again Saturday afternoon at the Village Center.

With flags waving and people clapping, the town welcomed home two more service members who had been serving overseas. Marine Lance Corporal Anthony Strong and Army Specialist Roger Boulanger had recently come home from tours of duty in Afghanistan.

This was the third Welcome Home Ceremony the town has held and a couple of hundred people attended in a show of support, patriotism, small-town pride and simply as a way of saying thank you.

Strong and Boulanger were presented with proclamations signed by the town council thanking them for their service and took turns cutting their yellow ribbon down from the tree, leaving only one ribbon, that of Army Capt. Jeffrey Pugatch. However, Ann McLaughlin, chairperson of the Welcome Home Veterans/Yellow Ribbon Committee, said two more ribbons would be going up soon.

Strong thanked everybody for their support and said, “It’s great being home.”

East Hampton has now welcomed back five military members for their serving overseas. Last year, a Welcome Home Ceremony was held for Navy Commander Michael Flatley and another for Air Force Senior Airman Nicholas Pawlak and Marine Lance Corporal Kristopher Schonagel.