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An Unlikely Holiday Tradition: Christmas at the Airport

Linda Robinson, Donna Cranston
Linda Robinson, Donna Cranston

By BJ Austin, KERA News

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-808998.mp3

Dallas, TX – Spending Christmas in an airport is not the typical holiday memory we cherish. But it is exactly what a couple of North Texas women began doing five years ago. As part of our Holiday Traditions project, KERA's BJ Austin takes us to Gate B 37 at DFW International Airport.

Outside Terminal B, curbside carols and holiday songs greet arrivals and departures. Donna Cranston and Linda Robinson hear them as they hurry into gate B 37 every day. But, it is the music they hear inside that puts them in the holiday spirit. They are the organizers of the Welcome Home A Hero program. They coordinate a daily gauntlet of cheering groups and individuals to wave flags and say thank you to troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan for some R&R.

Cranston: Good afternoon folks. Thank you for being here today. Our flight has arrived. There are 152 on board today.

The women have made welcoming home the troops a holiday tradition. Donna Cranston says for the fifth year, they will spend part of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day greeting the troops - as they do most every day. She says the tradition grew out of friendship.

Cranston: Our sons were both deployed at the time. And we found that it was just good therapy for us to be out here. And then, one thing led to another. My son's back home. Her son's back over there actually.

Robinson: It has become a part of our holidays. The first year, I was involved because my son was over there. So this gave me a way to connect with him as the troops came in. And now it's like, why wouldn't I be here? And, of course, last year I wasn't here. I was in Iraq. So I had the whole other version of it, being over there with the troops, and seeing how special it is to come and have people here.

Linda spent 13 months in Iraq setting up a USO operation. And she says she heard plenty of thank-you's from troops who had passed through the big welcome at DFW Airport. On this day, Donna and Linda coordinated a large group from Vivian Field Middle School in Farmers Branch, and Linda Wright leading a group from Xerox.

Wright: There's a team of 18 of us. It was actually the idea of one of the Reps to come out for our community service project and come greet the troops. (Is this the first time you'll be doing it?) Yes, the first time. We've put together bags of treats. We've made signs. We have T-shirts. So, we're ready to go.

Melody and Janna Norris waited for Sgt. Brian Boyd to arrive. They had no idea he and the others would get such a welcome.

Send E-mail to BJ Austin