"Welcome Home Citizen Warrior" recognition May 5 at Old State Capitol

SPRINGFIELD - The U.S. Army Reserves will recognize area Reservists who recently completed a tour of duty overseas or stateside supporting the Global War on Terrorism during a "Welcome Home Citizen Warrior" ceremony to be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 5 at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in downtown Springfield.  The event is free and open to the public.

 

            The program ensures each returning citizen-soldier understands that his or her mission to make our homeland secure is appreciated by the nation and the Army.  Each returning soldier will be presented with a shadow-boxed American flag, a "Welcome Home Warrior Hero" flag, a soldier and spouse pin set, and a commemorative coin. 

 

            The soldiers to be recognized May 5 are current or retired members of the 303^rd Ordnance Group.  The 303^rd OD Group as a whole did not mobilize or deploy, but its individual members were shared throughout the entire United States Army Reserve Command for their special military occupational skills. 

 

The Old State Capitol has long played a role in the history of Illinois military units.  According to Adjutant General T.S. Mather's recollection, Captain Ulysses S. Grant came to the Adjutant General's Office at the Old State Capitol on the morning of May 6, 1861.  Grant was assigned a desk in the office and supervised the muster rolls and the assignment of companies to fight in the Civil War, bringing order to an apparently chaotic situation.  Next he secured a colonel's commission, and in the summer of 1861 Colonel Grant led the 21^st Illinois west to Missouri, the beginning of his rise to fame during the Civil War.

 

            The Old State Capitol State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is open daily for free public tours.