Hundreds of American heroes were honored in Hartford Tuesday night at a special ceremony for three Connecticut Army National Guard units.
The more than 270 soldiers returned in recent months from serving in Afghanistan and Kuwait. Tuesday the Governor and members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation formally welcomed the soldiers home at the ceremony held at the Governor William A. O’Neill State Armory.
Governor Dannel Malloy helped pin 20 soldiers with the Bronze Star medal and awarded two others the Purple Heart. Sgt. Alex Seretny of Windham and Spec. Michael Peterson of Weymouth, Massachusetts recieved Purple Heart Medals for wounds they received when an IED blew up their truck as they were carrying supplies to other units north of Kandahar.
Sgt. Seretny saying the biggest reward for all of them is that, “Everyone that we deployed with and stood with in this very room on our way out and we’re all here to stand here again on our way back, that’s the most important part.”
These men and women have deployed more than once to Southwest Asia, serving up to a year at a time.