Bank patrons give soldier a taste of home
By Wendy McCardle Zook, wzook@altoonamirror.comArticle Photos
ROARING SPRING - The generosity of customers at a bank in Roaring Spring allowed a mother to send her military son one package a week for most of his stay in Iraq.
Lisa Tremmel of Roaring Spring put out a photo of her son, Spc. Rodney Tremmel II, at First National Bank, where she works, when he was deployed for his second tour of duty in April. Beside the photo was a washtub where customers could leave items to send to the 29-year-old serving with the North Carolina National Guard's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team.
"The customers here were very generous," Tremmel said. "We were able to send a box a week since April."
The final box, filled with Christmas-themed items, was sent out last week. His battalion will return to the United States at the end of January.
Past boxes have included all kinds of food and volleyballs for her son and his friends to replace the balls broken on the rocky sand in the Middle East.
Tremmel's son, who lives in South Carolina, and his wife, Julia, have a 1-year-old son, Benjamin. Tremmel joined the military in 2003, serving abroad then as part of the U.S. Army Airborne 18th Division. On his first tour, he was on a large base that had such luxuries as a place to go swimming, a McDonald's and a Pizza Hut.
Now his home for the past two or three months is close to Baghdad.
"His bathroom is a pipe in the ground," she said. "That's why we sort of took on a mission here. I went to my cupboard one night for a snack and I thought, 'He can't even do that.'"
His brigade has been digging out bombs with shovels and raiding homes to bring in "the bad guys," her son tells her.
"He'll soon be home," she said.
Now at the front of the bank's lobby is a thank-you note sent from her son.
"He was just really, really grateful," Tremmel said, adding that her son has shared every box with others at the base. "He pulled out of it what he wanted and sat it outside his door and it was gone in five minutes. He shared even his last box. He has a big heart. We're proud of him."
Mirror Staff Writer Wendy McCardle Zook is at 946-7520.
