Olivia Burton will celebrate her first birthday today with her whole family, even dad.
Staff Sgt. Robert Burton arrived home to Opelika Saturday night with other members of the U.S. Army Reserve 206th Transportation Company, after spending a year in Iraq.
Rasheeda Burton said her husband left last June, six days after Olivia, their third child, was born. Since then, the veteran reservist has only seen his baby girl for about three weeks of her young life. He must have made an impression on her though because all Olivia says is “Da-Da,” according to Rasheeda.
But dad is home now and the timing couldn’t have been better. Olivia gets her father home for her birthday and all the Burtons get dad home for Father’s Day.
“It’s definitely going to be exciting,” Robert said. “We were going to be delayed, but it’s nice that we weren’t. It’s a great Father’s Day gift.”
The bus carrying about 30 members of the 206th received a police escort from the interstate to anxious family members waiting outside Opelika City Hall. The sky was getting grim, but no one left.
They came to welcome home their fathers, mothers, sons and daughters and a few raindrops wouldn’t deter that.
The soldiers got off the bus behind city hall and marched around to the front, where families waited in the street with cameras and American flags.
Omari Burton, 9, couldn’t stay seated with his family. He ran ahead to spot where his father was in the formation. He found him and raced back to his seat where he raised a sign — Welcome Home SSG Burton! — over his head for his father to see.
Omari was determined to make sure his father knew where they were among the crowd. He held the message over his head for the duration of the welcoming ceremony. Once the troops were dismissed, he was the first to make a dash for dad.
Orian, 3, took a little encouragement, but he navigated his way through the crowd to find his dad’s open arms. Rasheeda and Olivia were right behind him. The Burtons were together again, finally.
aweaver@oanow.com | 737-2534
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