Public urged to support departing soldiers

Another group of soldiers in the Galva National Guard unit will be deployed to Afghanistan next week, with soldiers leaving the armory 9 a.m. Monday.

About 25 members of the unit ? officially known as 634th BSB - Delta Company ? will be deployed. They will board buses outside the armory 9 a.m. Monday, eventually bound for Fort Bragg, N.C., where they will train before going to Afghanistan. They’ll be divided among deploying Guard units from Champaign, Sullivan and Mattoon.

The public is invited to line the parade route Monday morning to give the soldiers a warm send-off.

“We want the community to be able to show their support. Since some of the units are not doing any type of ceremony, this is the only recognition that some of our soldiers will receive before they leave for Afghanistan,” said Lori Nimrick of Kewanee.

Nimrick is leader of the local Family Readiness Group which supports families connected to the Galva Guard unit.

The bus will start at the armory and turn south onto Northwest 1st Avenue, then west onto Northwest 5th Street. It will then turn south onto Northwest 4th Avenue and go past the Galva Kids First daycare center. At the corner of Northwest 4th Avenue and Routes 17 and 34, the bus will turn east onto Routes 17 and 34, go one block and then turn south onto Exchange Street, where it will go by the post office and cross the railroad tracks. The bus will stay on Route 17 until it reaches South Center Avenue, where it will turn and go north through town, past the high school and on up the Galva-Atkinson Blacktop to German’s Corner. It will eventually go through Kewanee and then to Champaign.

About 25 other members of the Galva Guard unit deployed a month ago.