SLIDESHOW: Rain, chill don't deter patriotic crowds
Story By SUSAN LEATHERS
Photos by PEG FREDI
Brentwood Home Page
“Thousands” is the closest thing to an official crowd estimate Brentwood Police Chief Ricky Watson would declare of the number of people who lined two of Brentwood’s busiest corridors on a chilly, wet morning to welcome Spec. 4 Andrew Wilson home on Tuesday.

Waving yellow ribbons and American flags of all sizes and holding colorful umbrellas of all descriptions, friends, neighbors and strangers bonded together for the homecoming of the 24-year-old soldier who lost both legs in October after an IED explosion in Afghanistan.

The day for Wilson began early, with a flight from Maryland and the Walter Reed Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethesda, Md. where he is receiving medical care and rehabilitation services. He and his family arrived in Brentwood via a donated stretch limousine that was escorted by Brentwood police cars, blue lights blazing, and approximately 40 motorcycles all driven by veterans known as the Patriot Guard Riders.

After a short ceremony held outside of the former Murray Ohio headquarters on Franklin Road in north Brentwood, the motorcade – now joined by additional police officers, Williamson County Sheriff’s Deputies and others – began the 7.7-mile ride to Andrew’s Bonbrook home.

Crowds big and small, at times four to five people deep, lined Franklin, Concord and Sunset roads for the opportunity to wave to and cheer for Andrew. At one point on Concord Road, the crowds swelled into the road itself, allowing only one lane of traffic – the motorcade – to make its way through.

“It was tough getting to Wilson Pike because of the crowd,” Brentwood Police Chief Ricky Watson who was instrumental in pulling the event together. “It was one lane because so many people were in the street wanting to greet Andrew.”

Among those waiting for Andrew at Cliff and Kim Wilson’s Bonbrook home was Mike Maenza, whose own son, Ben, a wounded U.S. Marine from Brentwood, had returned home from Walter Reed almost exactly a year earlier. The two young servicemen’s stories and injuries overlap so closely it’s almost eerie.

“They’re working out together, they’ve created a bond and there’s some rivalry there,” Watson said, over what branch of the military – the Army or Marines – is better.

“Obviously there’s no one else who can explain what is going on then the Maenzas,” Watson added.

The rain didn’t stop hundreds of Lipscomb Elementary School students, staff and parents from leaving their class holiday parties early to come outside to wave to their new hero. Just east of Lipscomb near the Brentwood Library, a large contingent of the Brentwood Academy family gathered together to greet the Class of 2007 graduate.

At every entrance to a subdivision along the route, neighbors crowded sidewalks, the city’s bike trails and shoulders. Close to The Governor’s Club, more than a few private golf carts were parked along the route, some emblazoned with posters.

The Ravenwood Marching Band participated by putting out more than 300 large American flags along Concord in front of the Governors Club and north on Sunset to the Wilson’s Brunswick Drive home.

Two large, bright yellow banners greeted Andrew on the corner of his yard, signed by hundreds of Edmondson Elementary School students. His two younger siblings attend nearby the nearby elementary school.

Nine-year-old Raven Walters was among those patiently waiting for the motorcade to drive up Sunset Road. Dressed in polka dot rain boots and standing under a clear umbrella, she was there with her parents and several neighbors from nearby Courtside subdivision. She knew exactly why they were there: “To see Andrew come home from fighting in the war,” she said, before adding that he was in Afghanistan to “keep our country safe.”

The Santoro family was out in force – mom Susan, dad Frank and kids Matthew, 11, Mia, 8 and Michael, 14. They are longtime neighbors of the Wilsons, living just down the street.

“It’s emotional, Susan said. Frank, obviously choked up, added, “You just wish him all the best; he’s done so much for us” he added of Wilson’s service to his country.

Derek Beard learned Monday he had been selected to drive the limo donated by his employer, Grand Avenue Limousine. Standing in the Wilsons’ driveway after Andrew had made his way into the house, Beard shared he was “fighting tears back the whole time I was driving.”

“It was all about him,” the driver said. “His name was on everything; it was beautiful,” he said of the multitude of homemade signs they passed.

Andrew is the son of Cliff Wilson of Brentwood and Gay Bruner of Franklin. His parents, step-parents, Kim Wilson and Russ Bruner, and siblings all were part of Tuesday’s celebratory ride home.