About 150 people gathered at the Whitestone Armory in a “Freedom Salute” to welcome home a detachment of 18 members of the 27th Finance Battalion of the New York State National Guard.
Among the well-wishers on Sunday, March 4 was Senator Frank Padavan who is a retired Army Reserve Colonel, Assemblymember Ann-Margaret Carrozza and local civic leader Pat Carpentiere.
This unit is part of the 180-member battalion which spent the last year in Iraq under the command of Second Lieutenant Thomas Iannuccelli. They “performed cashiering duties as a mobile finance support team that convoyed to remote locations,” according to a spokesperson for the National Guard. In civilian terms, this means they drove around the war-torn country in lightly-armored vehicles with soldiers’ payroll.
One of the returnees was six-year Guard veteran and Saint Albans resident, Specialist Diana Moise.
Guard unit welcomed home
By Victor G. Mimoni
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