PIMS sixth-graders welcome home Mars Hill soldier
SGT. BRIAN “BJ” McQUADE of Mars Hill, who is home on leave from Iraq, visited sixth-graders at Presque Isle Middle School last Thursday to meet the students who sent him letters and gift packages while he was overseas as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following the assembly, McQuade was presented a special gift – a camouflage outfit for his daughter, Lainey Elizabeth, and a Johnny Cash CD. Pictured during the presentation are, from left: student Michaela Dumais, teacher Peggy Kelley, McQuade’s wife, Melissa, holding their daughter, Lainey, and McQuade.
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – If you ask Sgt. Brian “BJ” McQuade of Mars Hill what the highlight of a soldier’s day is, he’ll say it’s getting mail; and he should know. In addition to receiving letters from his parents, family and wife, Melissa, while stationed in Iraq, McQuade also received mail from sixth-graders at Presque Isle Middle School.
For the last five years, students in Peggy Kelley’s social studies classes have written letters to soldiers who are involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The students not only pen letters, but also collect items to be sent over for a particular solider and his/her platoon. Items that are often sent overseas include dry cereal, hard candy, chapstick, baby wipes, magazines, toiletries, small sponge footballs, basketballs, specialty coffee, beef jerky, and even The Star-Herald.
“My social studies classes have built a reputation of doing these ‘acts of kindness’ and now area people e-mail me and ask to be included,” said Kelley. “We do our best. We send our packages to those who are related to my students or are students from Presque Isle High School. We practice proper letter format and write letters numerous times throughout the year.
“The students are learning compassion, generosity, respect and patriotism while sending gifts and letters to touch the hearts of our soldiers,” she said, “and hopefully bring a smile to their lives.”
McQuade, son of Brian and Allyson McQuade of Mars Hill, is home on leave from Iraq and visited the students who sent him letters and gift packages last Thursday. His aunt, Alice McQuade, is the secretary at PIMS, while his sister, Tory Bernard, is a special education technician at the school.
Dressed in his fatigues, McQuade answered students’ questions and showed them a slide show of various images he saw while abroad. Pictures included his platoon, mosques, native Iraqi women dressed from head to toe in black despite 100 degree heat, camels, markets, military vehicles and more.
The soldier thanked the students for their kindness and support.
“It’s a great feeling to get any kind of mail. I think some would even like to get a bill because it comes from the states,” he said. “These kids have been great and very supportive of the troops. The letters were hilarious. Kids truly say the darndest things. We’d sit around and read every letter, and if we had a funny one, everybody would read it and get a laugh out of it.
“Receiving letters is a great way to stay connected to the people back home,” said McQuade. “Even though I’m from Mars Hill and these kids are from Presque Isle, we all pretty much grew up in the same town since everything is in Presque Isle. It means a lot to hear from these kids.”
McQuade also took the time to write back to the students and answer any questions they might have had.
Prior to last week’s assembly, the sixth-graders were anxious to meet McQuade.
“I brought things in [to be shipped to the soldiers] for the brave men who serve our country,” said Regan Nelson. “I am very excited to see Mr. McQuade and I can’t wait to see him in person. I would like to put a face with the letters we have been writing.”
“I think the soldiers deserve our respect,” said Michael Mahon. “Our social studies class has been writing letters to the soldiers. We have learned how important it is to support our troops. I am very excited to meet Sgt. McQuade and thank him in person.”
After graduating from Central Aroostook High School in 1998, McQuade attended college in Las Vegas before joining the U.S. Army in 2004.
“I came back to work on my grandfather’s golf course (Mars Hill Country Club) for the summer, and decided that I was going to enter the military,” said McQuade. “In Las Vegas I was studying hospitality, and I wanted to do casino operations/management, but it got a little boring. I like to try to stay active and that wasn’t the job for me. I looked into some other careers, but when the United States entered into war, I thought that I needed to serve my country, so I joined.
“I enlisted in avionics on the Apache and in 2005 I went to Korea,” he said. “From 2006-2008 I was in Georgia training, and then I changed my job to a scout and got assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. I was in Iraq from Feb. 5, 2009 to Jan. 25, 2010.”
While in Iraq, McQuade lived at Camp Liberty, just outside of Baghdad.
“We did our patrols in Abu Ghraib for seven to eight months, and then we moved north to Camp Taji and we did operations in the Tarmiyah area,” he said.
McQuade said the biggest change in his life is fatherhood.
“I went from being just a married guy with no kids to pretty much having a 5-month-old,” he said. “I’ve only been with her for a few weeks of her life, so there’s a reacclamation period that goes with that. My wife had the baby a day before my 15-day leave was to start and I had a layover in Germany for 16 hours, so I missed her birth. I was a day late. I remember seeing a photo of my wife and daughter on Facebook at the airport.”
While on leave, McQuade, his wife and daughter, Lainey Elizabeth, will head to Georgia to visit Melissa’s family.
“From there I’ll be going to Texas and get ready to leave there. My next assignment is Fort Campbell, Ky., so I’ll be there in May. Right now I’m in the First Cavalry Division, but will be in the 101st Airborne and I could be deployed to Afghanistan. I should get about a year of stabilization with my family first, so that would be good. We’ll have to wait and see.”
To thank Kelley and the students for their patriotism, McQuade presented Kelley with a flag that flew over Camp Taji in the combat zone.
“Since they recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day, I thought the flag would be a good memento,” he said.
Kelley, in turn, presented McQuade with a special gift – a camouflage outfit for his daughter so she can “dress like daddy” and a Johnny Cash CD since McQuade is a fan of country music.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS, sixth-graders in Peggy Kelley’s social studies classes at Presque Isle Middle School have written letters and sent care packages to soldiers involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. One of those soldiers, Sgt. Brian “BJ” McQuade of Mars Hill is home on leave and visited the students last Thursday. Following his presentation, McQuade wanted to thank each student personally for their support. Here, McQuade shakes hands with, from left: Matteah Michaud and Kerrigan LeBlanc.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
SPECIAL PRESENTATION – Sgt. Brian “BJ” McQuade of Mars Hill, who is home on leave from Iraq, presents Peggy Kelley, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Presque Isle Middle School, with an American flag that was flown over Camp Taji in the combat zone as a way of thanking her and her students for their patriotism. For the last five years, Kelley’s students have written letters and sent care packages to the soldiers involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
