North Reading welcomes Marine back from Afghanistan with flags, hugs, and handshakes

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

NORTH READING -- The heart of this community may be on Park Street. The elementary school, high school, and senior center are here and so are the police and fire departments.

People poured out of those buildings today and lined the street to welcome Marine Ben Hodgkins back home. The town’s warm embrace came as a surprise to the lieutenant, who suddenly found himself riding behind a police escort into a crowd of about 500 residents waving US flags and posters.

“I’m just trying to take this all in right now,” Hodgkins said this morning, gazing at all the residents. “It’s great to see my friends and everyone come out. It really means a lot.”

His 10-year-old brother Gerry, who is in the fourth grade at the Batchelder School, stood nearby with his classmates.

“I just wanted to come out to thank him for serving and for fighting for our country,’’ said Alex Vercolen, 9, one of the classmates.

Amber Hodgkins drove straight from the campus of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where she is a student, to arrive in time for her brother’s homecoming.

“I got here five minutes before he arrived. It’s nice to be a part of this. He was very happy that I came home,’’ she said.

At least 40 residents from this town of about 15,000 have been deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In November, about 200 residents turned out to welcome home Lieutenant Colonel Dan McIntyre when he returned from Iraq after more than a year there.

Susan Magner, the director of the town veterans’ services office, organized both after she was contacted by the servicemen’s relatives. She is now working to create a committee to oversee future homecomings.

“We would gladly do this for all of them,’’ she said.

Brian R. Ballou can be reached at bballou@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @globeballou.